Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance
by PrimaMalum
Summary: [Manga Spoilers past chapter 29 "Hammer"] Eren loses his battle with the Female Titan and is eaten just as Mikasa arrives on scene. Her and Levi attempt to save him, but are met with failure. Stuck in the forest without help and damaged equipment, Levi and Mikasa must regroup with the Scouting Legion before pursuing Eren as the Female Titan ultimately decides his fate...
1. Taken - Redux

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**Chapter 1: Taken**

A profusion of crimson decorated the viridescent terrain, staining its ethereal beauty as torrid steam emitted from his adversary. Eren refused to let her regenerate, clenching his fist before bringing it heavily down upon the back of her head.

The force of the blow cost him dearly as remnants of his hand dispersed along the trees in a surge of shattered bones and fleshy carmine smears. The stump of his fragmented forearm - shredded flesh and exposed tendons - steamed in excess as his body labored to replace what was gone. The temporary loss was worth it though, for the Female Titan lay on the ground - her face devastated to the degree of undefinable physiognomy. As his hand began to restore, Eren glared down at the immobile Titan as she slowly began to rejuvenate - hot vapor rising in an adagio from her ruined face.

_"If only at that time…"_ Eren thought to himself, remembering his comrades that met their merciless ends by the hands of _this_ Titan. _"...I had chosen to stay with them and fight together."_ His fists clenched tight - nails digging into the tough meat of his Titan-form's palm.

_"No…even before that."_ His rage infused jades narrowed at the Female Titan whose head was medianly finished with its restoration. _"If only I had chosen to fight the first time we made contact with her!" _

His tightly wound muscles began to shake ferociously, the Titan-form's mahogany hair tousled by the cutting wind as green leaves and fronds danced around the core of ground zero.

_"Corporal Rivaille was by my side at the time…I would have won there, I'm sure. __We may have also succeeded in capturing her alive!"_

The Female Titan's head was nearing completion.

_"That…that was my choice and because of my decision, everyone was killed. Because of me…everyone is dead."_ Eren started towards the Female Titan - the battle-scarred terrain creaked disapprovingly as it gave way to shallow craters under his heavy footfalls - scintillating rage gradually besieging his discernibility of self control.

_"But...the one really at fault here…"_ His sartorius muscle contracted as he lifted the weight of his leg back behind him - ready to put an end to this brawl. The Female Titan's silvery-blue eyes were fully formed now, centering on him wide in trepidation as she brought her hand forward, motioning for him to stop.

_"Is you!" _

The battle-cry Eren summoned from within his Titan-form was powerful - chilling - sounding throughout the forest as though it were the call to war of a nation bearing down on its final victory. A violent shockwave rattled their arena as his shin collided with the Female Titan's gut, sending her flying into a row of trees that disintegrated on impact in a brilliant shower of splintered wood chips and grainy soot.

* * *

_"Eren?!"_

_"This roar…it's!-"_

Upon hearing the barbaric howl, both Mikasa and Levi stopped mid-grapple. Though in two separate areas, they both had the same idea of heading towards where the sound had come from.

"Wha?! H-Hey! Where are you going?! Mikasa, come back!" Sasha yelled after her but was too late. Mikasa had already begun reeling her weight towards the origin of stentorian bellows.

_"This way!"_ Levi said to himself, firing his grappling hooks into two trees at his peripheral before activating the gas mechanism of his 3D Maneuver gear, sending him flying past the two trees, retracting his hooks with ease as he continued to head in the opposite direction of the ordered rendezvous.

* * *

The Female Titan slowly lifted herself to her feet, stumbling from sudden shift in her center of gravity - gripping the newly inflicted wound. Eren suddenly appeared before her, smashing the barely standing Shifter through what remained of the tree and onto the detritus of shattered splinters on the ground below. His leaden weight settled firmly on top of her, pinning the Shifter's arms with both hands - his tumultuous roars resonating his feral anger through the Female Titan's ears.

Eren raised a fist, plunging it down hard at her face only for it to connect with the ground where her head once lay. In that split second, she had avoided what would have been a battle ending strike. The force of the impact sent a driving shock through his arm - muscles, skin, and bone were obliterated as his elbow turned into nothing but evaporating steam. He tried again, this time with his other hand. The Female Titan dodged once more - his remaining hand was disintegrated just like his other.

As his wounds began to heal, he raised his head and looked down upon his unparalleled enemy. Their eyes locked with each other - even though she barely managed to evade his punches, there was no sign of fear present in her eyes, nor did she appear to look intimidated. Her lips were parted slightly, and her head was tilted in interest as if she were a child, studying her opponent with glistening, eccentric eyes. Before he could react, her left hand gripped his shoulder. It didn't appear to be a sign of attack...more like a motion to stop him.

Her sudden action sent an irresistible compulsion through his nerves - sparking the savage beast inside to life for an infinitesimal second.

A moment later, her arm was ripped from its socket, dangling from Eren's teeth before he sent it flying into the trees behind them. He turned his enraged gaze back to her. It may have been the way he was looking down at her, or how he just so casually ripped her arm off, but it seemed to have sparked something in her. Her pupils were dilated, and her body tensed. She was definitely intimidated now.

"_I'll tear you apart! Once my limbs regenerate, you'll be nothing but broken bones and pulverized meat! I'll make sure to savor your human form so you can feel the deaths of those you killed a million times over! Just you wait, you bitch!" _

Eren's mind became free. He could no longer see her. All he could do was breathe in the stench of malodorous coils - connecting him on a primal level with his creation.

"_I'll devour her...I'll fucking gut her!" _A deranged grin twisted the features of his face while viscid saliva dribbled down his parched lips, much like a rabid dog. He wanted to see her blood spill, to see her beg for mercy as he utterly eradicates her. The more he thought about the various ways to break her, the tighter the coils around him became…

And he loved how it felt.

The mordant heat grew hotter and hotter within the enclosed bulk of neural tissue cocooning its 'master'. The Female Titan below him watched in alarm as his eyes rotated in their hollows to the back of his head - his hulking body convulsing violently. She knew what was happening, for she too had experienced it once before - the tendrils were indoctrinating him deeper into the belly of the beast. His Titan-form desired to consume him, so it could roam the earth free.

She wouldn't let that happen however. She clenched her fist, sending it harshly into his face. Eren's head was tossed to the side from the force - a couple bloody teeth flew from his mouth and impacted against a tree in the distance with a light _thunk_. She pushed her leg up, sending him over her and onto the ground, quickly getting up to assume a defensive stance as her dazed target recovered from the sudden attack.

Eren shook his head, now in control again, before turning to face her, their eyes locking once more. He let out another rage-induced cry, sending a volley of fists at her - all of which she effortlessly evaded. She could read his patterns of attack. Every move he made, she was two steps ahead of him. He wasn't thinking straight. All he could comprehend was the consuming need to kill her, and the pin and needle focus on raw power, accompanied by the grim lack of precision that would soon be his demise.

His next untamed swing gave her the chance she needed to land a hit. In an instant, her right arm had crystallized, the reflective cerulean armor impacting Eren's jaw with an elegant yet herculean prowess. Her eyes shot open, not anticipating that he would grind what remained of his broken teeth along the jagged surface, landing a devastating haymaker into her gut. The force of the blow was so powerful, that it sent her flying through the air and into a tree a good forty meters away.

The Female Titan was slumped against the tree, panting heavily. It was only when Eren was moments away from sending a fist into her face, that she saw the beaming pair of turquoise eyes through the curtain of steam emitting from her wounds.

She quickly rolled her body to the side as his fist made contact with the tree, exploding it into nothing but splintered wood and the parted flesh of his right hand. He was now disoriented - blinded by the haze of their combined steam. She took this chance and sprinted to his side, swinging her fist into his right eye, immediately rendering it useless.

The loss of both his eye and arm left him unable to react in time as she came up on his defenseless right side - kneeing him in the chin. His lower jaw caved in and the momentum of the blow sent him flying back onto the soil - a shroud of dust surrounded him as the earth beneath his sudden weight compressed and crumbled.

_"Shit! I need to get up! C'mon!"_ Eren pressed his left hand onto the ground to use as support before beginning to lift himself up. He turned to see his enemy shifting into a stance that was too familiar for Eren's comfort. He knew this stance, this technique. He was taught this during his training, though due to time constraints, he was never able to fully perfect it.

"_H-how does she know…" _His voice trailed off and he let down his guard, all the while studying the movements and appearance of the Shifter in front of him. The pieces began to fall into place - her name was on the tip of his tongue, but he was too late as she brought her foot to the left side of his face, kicking in the remaining eye and forcing it out the other side.

Eren toppled over, what remained of his face collided into the ground. The Female Titan quickly straddled his lower back, pressing one hand against the back of his head to keep him pinned down. Irritation and anger replaced his bewilderment - the question of her identity became shadowed by the intense call to try to find an opening - to gain the upper hand.

_"Shit! This is bad, really bad!"_ Eren was blind, trapped, and defenseless - unable to get out from under her as she opened her mouth wide - her powerful bite clamping down on the meat of Eren's bicep. _"No! You won't get the better of me! I'll fucking kill you!" _

Eren's words proved useless as she gripped his forearm tightly and heaved his only remaining means of defense from its socket.

_"Fuck!" _Eren cursed. His body being unable to regenerate in time had cost him this battle, the victor throwing his arm to the side before grabbing his shoulders with either hand. She bit her teeth into the tender skin of his nape just in time for Mikasa to arrive on their arena.

"Eren!" She screamed, watching in horror as the Female Titan pulled the flesh of the nape back to reveal Eren's human-self. He looked at Mikasa with half-lidded, dazed eyes as he was taken in by the prodigious jaws - the opposing Shifter's head tilting back moments later to allow Eren's still form to slide back into the cavern of her mouth.

The lower half of his legs fell to the ground below - bitten off when she closed her mouth. His captor quickly arose to her feet and sprinted off to avoid further confrontation.

"No!" Mikasa screamed, firing her grappling hooks towards the retreating enemy.

"Get back here!" Mikasa reeled herself in after her hooks took hold of the fleeing Shifter. She drew her blades back, ready to cut as deep as she could into it.

"Give him back!" Mikasa yelled, her blades slicing through the cheek of the Shifter and moving to the front. She then reeled herself back in and made a clean cut along the Female Titan's bicep before cutting across her quadriceps.

"Give Eren back!" The beast made one final cut, slashing across the back of the Female Titan's knee - cutting deep into the vulnerable skin and fibrous ligaments and causing her to fall over to the ground, quickly bringing a hand over her nape to defend against Mikasa's sudden attempt at ending her once and for all. Her blades clashed against the crystal, the amount of force exerted causing both blades to fragment. She fired her hooks to the nearest tree and reeled herself away before the Female Titan could counter.

"Just let me through already!" Mikasa screamed, unable to hold back the tears that had been welling in her eyes. The Female Titan looked up at her attacker in surprise.

"I know that Eren's alive!" Mikasa hoped that Eren was still in her mouth and went to equip a pair of blades, steam emanating from her body where the Female Titan's blood had splattered.

"No matter where she goes; I'll find her, eviscerate her, and release you from that vile place! So just wait a little longer Eren, okay?" Mikasa quickly swung away as the Female Titan brought her arm over and smashed it into the tree, the top half falling over to the ground.

"Wait for me, Eren!" Mikasa yelled, eyes sparking with rage as she went to try and cut through the nape again.

* * *

_Just a few moments before.._

Levi passed by Gunter Shulz hanging by his wires, blood seeping from the nape of his neck into a crimson pool below. He advanced forward - passing by the top half of Erd Gin's body, his insides sprawled out across the gore stained grass.

He turned away only to see Auruo Bossard on the ground, his body crushed. Levi's expression remained blank as his hooks grappled into another set of trees in front of him - right beside the last member of his squad.

He looked down below at Petra Ral's broken body lying against the tree, blood seeping from her nose and mouth, and the angle of her head allowing the dark liquid to soak through her light brown locks - her once life-filled eyes staring dead into the canopy.

The Corporal propelled himself away and never looked back. It had been a reunion without words, for there was no time or need for them. He pressed on without a second thought.

After following the tell-tale path of destruction through the trees, he arrived to see Mikasa going for the Female Titans' nape. He quickly shot his hooks out to a tree near her and reeled himself in, grabbing her by the waist in the process.

"We need to fall back for now." He said sternly, Mikasa glaring at the Titan as it slowly got up and started to run away. "We'll follow her while keeping our distance for the moment."

Levi looked at Mikasa and then at the Titan. "Looks like she's exhausted, her speed dropped significantly."

Levi looked at the Titan-form Eren was using, its nape devoured. "The whole nape area of Eren's Titan is bitten out, is he dead?" He looked toward Mikasa for a response.

"Eren is alive, sir." She began as they both used their 3D Maneuver gear to follow the Titan.

"The target seems to have intelligence, and her objective is to kidnap Eren. If she wanted to kill him, she could have simply crushed him. Instead, the target intentionally contained him in her mouth and is currently trying to escape with him."

"Then, maybe she was trying to devour Eren all along…in that case, he's in her stomach right now, which pretty much means he's dead."

"He is alive." Mikasa responded, glaring at the corporal.

"I sure hope so." He responded coldly.

"In the first place, had you performed your duty to protect Eren properly, this wouldn't have happened." She said sternly, causing Levi's eyes to widen a bit.

"You're Eren's childhood friend who was present at the trial, right? I see." This was Levi's first time meeting the boy's adopted sister. He understood her anger, but there was no time for her feelings to get in the way of the mission. He looked away from her and thought out a plan as they closed in on the Titan. "First, we need to give up on taking this female type down."

"But…she's killed a lot of scouts." Mikasa mentioned.

"As long as she has that ability to harden her skin, slaying her is impossible. Take my assessment on this. We'll bet everything on the possibility that Eren is still alive, and rescue him before she has a chance to get out of the forest. I'll cut her up, and you'll draw her attention."

Mikasa nodded, propelling herself forward to get in front of the Female Titan before making direct eye contact. The Female Titan jogged at a steady pace, appearing to be unaware of Levi's presence while staring down at Mikasa.

Levi readied his blades and glared at his newest prey, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

The Female Titan suddenly planted her foot into the ground, using her momentum to twist her body to launch an onerous fist at the Corporal. The next few moments happened so fast. Before the Female Titan could even blink, Levi had torn through the length of her arm as if he were a devastating cyclone. It was only when she could focus her eyes on him, that his bent blades punctured through her pupils, generating vortexed wisps of scarlet haze.

He quickly drew back his hilts, leaving what remained of the blades embedded in her eyes and pushing himself off from her nose. In the span of seconds, he had already equipped a new pair of blades and spun down her shoulder blade and to the small of her back, before making his way around to her thighs and eventually both achilles tendons.

She immediately focused on regenerating the achilles tendons as Levi spun across her nape, only to be thwarted by the sudden crystal protecting it. His shattered blades bounced off the large tree his target fell against, unable to keep herself up for the time being. Immediately, he equipped another pair of blades and went to work on her arms. Mikasa took this chance to try and aid Levi in his one-man battle against the Female Titan.

"_Now that she's distracted, I can kill her!" _She shot one of her hooks out into the shoulder opposite of Levi and propelled herself forward to go for the nape. The Female Titan raised her hand beside the wire in an attempt to stop Mikasa from getting to her destination. Mikasa let out a yell as she sliced through the fingers and went on her way. Unknowingly, the Female Titan's hand was still active, and she brought it across Mikasa's body, throwing her to the ground hard.

"You fool!" Levi yelled. _"If only you had waited until I took care of the tendons in her arms!"_

Levi shot out his hooks to the tree right behind her nape and propelled himself forward, using the unfortunate distraction of Mikasa's bad timing as a perfect chance to dispose of the Female Titan once and for all, instead of just grabbing Eren. He wouldn't be able to carry both of them back, so he had to take this option instead.

He brought his blades across the nape, which was still layered with weakened crystal, making it less prone for his blades to break as they tore through the thick flesh. The Female Titan let out a strident roar of pain before twisting her neck to the side, throwing Levi off balance and causing him to take his blades out too soon. He flew off of her only to get one of his wires grabbed by her hand - used as a sudden last ditch effort to take him down. He quickly severed the wire with his blade to avoid being pulled down and used his remaining hook to begin descending down towards Mikasa.

Levi cocked his head back and watched his enemy get up as quickly as possible, her achilles tendons now healed, and ran off with a hand against her neck in pain. She seemed very nauseous. He must've cut her human form deep. He landed a few feet away from Mikasa, stepping over the remnants to one of her blade-holders; the wires were bent and barely attached to the hand-grips, and the triggers destroyed with one bent lever - another missing along with a leaking gas cylinder off to the side.

He knelt down beside Mikasa. Blood poured out of her stomach as she reached a hand out towards the fleeing Titan. "Mikasa, just hold still." Levi ordered, kneeling beside her to begin applying pressure to her wound.

"E-Eren…" She said.

"Mikasa, we have to worry about you right now, just keep breathing and don't close your eyes."

Mikasa could barely hear what Levi was saying - his words muffled and her vision blurry. All she could focus on was the Titan that took Eren away from her. She witnessed the Titan's form disappearing as more and more trees got in the way. She kept her hand reached out even after the Titan was long gone.

"Eren…please come back…Eren...please…" Levi pushed her hand down.

"Mikasa, lie still." Levi said sternly.

"But…Eren…" Hot tears began to freely flow down her obsidian eyes, blood escaping from her parted lips. She jumped up, screaming his name. "Eren! Eren! Please! Come bac-" Mikasa suddenly coughed violently, blood spilling all over her legs.

"Mikasa! Stop it!" Levi ordered, raising his voice while easing her back onto the ground.

_"Eren…don't leave me."_

* * *

**Redux: This chapter has been HEAVILY revised, with many new scenes implemented. Detail has also been given a much needed overhaul, and you can all thank Arkevil for doing many of those revisions. For the readers who have already read this chapter; I hope you all enjoy this new, redux version. I also hope that all you newcomers have enjoyed the first chapter to Dissonance.**

**THIS IS ALSO REALLY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!: The next two chapters have NOT been revised, so expect a significant drop in quality. Chapter 4 and beyond are revised and keep the same amount of quality as presented here. I will be doing revisions for chapters 2 and 3 when the time comes, so please be patient. **

* * *

**Original A/N:**

**After thinking long and hard about how this story is going to play out, I finally decided to write it. The reason I held this back for a while is because I originally thought Annie and Eren didn't work together as a couple, hence the title "Dissonance" which literally means "A tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements."**

**Though now that I've begun writing the story and having read the manga again, Annie and Eren have become my favorite pairing in SnK and I have so many things planned! That being said, It's going to be interesting to write the many different situations and character interactions these two can have together throughout the story. For those of you about to read this, I thank you for being a reader of my first Shingeki No Kyojin fanfiction and hope you will continue to stay with it until its completion.**

**Have a great day/night fellow Legionnaires, and until next time!**

**-Prima.**


	2. Into The Unknown

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the wait! Some of the characters kept me in deep thought because I am trying to get all them spot-on. I feel I did a good job with all of them but I could be wrong. I also made some updates to chapter 1 which consists of changing some dialogue for Mikasa and Levi to fit their characters more which should make it better.**

**I'll probably be doing that for this chapter too if I somehow come across errors I made after my 80 thousand times of rereading it.**

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter ^^!**

**-Prima.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Into The Unknown**

"Commander Smith!"

"What's the problem?" After catching her breath, Sasha Braus delivered news to the commander; his aqua-colored eyes focused on her as Mike Zakarius and Hanji Zoe came up from behind.

"Ackerman separated from my squad and went after a roaring noise within the forest!" Sasha stated, pointing in the direction she came from as the rest of her squad regrouped with the legion.

"A roaring noise?" Irvin Smith turned back to the forest and narrowed his eyes. "Why hasn't Eren returned with Levi's squad?"

"They must've gotten into trouble, should we go look for them?" Mike asked as thunder sounded in the distance. Irvin looked up at the sky, seeing grey clouds forming around the Forest of Giant Trees.

"We're still far away from the Karanese District, a storm is likely to occur, and without most of our carts…" Irvin paused and looked at Mike who was watching the legion; most of them conversing while others guarded the perimeter.

"It wouldn't be safe to advise such an action, especially if we're out in the open like this for too long." Irvin stated, his head turning back to the forest. Mike glanced at Hanji before returning his gaze to the commander.

"Sir." Mike began as Irvin eyed him. "I request permission for me and Hanji to infiltrate the forest and attempt to find the missing members of our legion."

Irvin looked back at the forest, thinking for a moment before responding. "I'm going to relocate the legion to the halfway point between here and Karanese. We'll wait an hour upon arriving there for your return."

"Understood, thank you sir."

"Woohoo! Maybe they beat that female type so I can experiment on her!" Hanji exclaimed ecstatically, bringing her hands up to her grinning face while jumping around like a child.

"Mike. Hanji."

"Yes Sir?" They both questioned.

"Good luck." Irvin began to walk towards the rest of the legion to order them into his "Formation for Long Distance Enemy Detection".

"Let's go, Hanji." Mike said, pulling out two blades from the sheath of his 3D Maneuver Gear before attaching them into the operating devices. Hanji was already ahead of him, humming happily as she shot her grappling hooks into the trees ahead.

* * *

Reiner witnessed two figures flying off into the forest just as Sasha got back from reporting to Irvin. "Sasha, what's going on?" He asked, slowly getting up.

"Squad leader Hanji Zoe and Mike Zakarius are going to find the missing troops." She said, letting herself fall onto the grass with a sigh.

"Just those two are searching?" Reiner questioned, narrowing his eyes before thinking about Eren and Mikasa. After a moments thought, he walked over to Irvin who had just arrived in the center of all the troops.

"Commander Smith!" Reiner exclaimed while standing at attention.

"What is it, Braun?" Irvin questioned, turning to face the towering legionnaire.

"I request permission to join up with the search party."

"Request denied." Irvin said sternly, causing Reiner to voice his concern.

"Two of my friends are out there, sir! I can't just sit idly while they're in dange-" Reiner was interrupted as Irvin put a hand on his broad shoulder.

"I understand your concern, but I need you here." Irvin stated. "The two I sent out will succeed in locating our missing troops. I need your skills here while we fall back to the halfway point towards the Karanese District."

"The halfway point…you mean we're leaving them in there?!" Reiner got tense while his metallic-gold eyes glared at Irvin who remained calm.

"Arlert told me how you managed to cut yourself free of the female type's grasp. I must say I'm quite impressed, for it requires a formidable amount of strength to perform such a feat. That being said, I can't afford to send anymore men with skills such as yours into that forest; do you understand, Braun?"

_"If I went with the search party with my skills, it would increase the chances of finding Eren and Mikasa faster, but accompanying them would leave the scouting legion even more vulnerable..."_

"Yes sir." Reiner responded. In actuality, he wanted to punch his commander in the face, but understood Irvin's reasoning. He cared deeply for his comrades, but wasn't about to sacrifice more men for a few others.

"I thank you for your understanding." Irvin smiled at him before turning to the rest of the legionnaires.

"Men, we're heading to the halfway point between here and Karanese. I am ordering the Formation for Long Distance Enemy Detection at this moment. Get to your positions and prepare to move!"

"Reiner, are you alright?" Bertholdt Fubar asked in a concerned tone as Irvin left to get in front of the formation.

"I understand why I need to be here…but I can't help but feel uneasy about this whole situation, Bert." Reiner turned towards him and sighed.

"Let's just get to our positions and move out, I'm sure they'll be fine." Bertholdt reassured.

"I hope you're right." Reiner said, running fingers through his hair before catching up to Bertholdt who walked ahead of him to their positions.

* * *

Armin gazed upon the forest, his light-blue eyes transfixed at the trees swaying from an easterly wind.

"I'm worried too Armin, but we have to follow orders." Connie came up from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I know, but it's just-"

"Fucking stupid, right?" Jean interrupted, his hand lazily placed on his forehead.

"Y-yeah, but like Connie said, there's nothing we can do about it." Armin responded in a soft tone, almost like a whisper.

"That bastard with the death-wish is probably trying to kill as many Titans as he can right now." Jean remarked while thoughts of Mikasa filled his head, convincing himself that she was alright and making a bloodbath out of the Titans.

"I'm sure they're fine." Armin reassured himself out loud.

"Oi! We need to go!" The trio heard the voice of Ymir, turning around to see her and Christa looking over at them.

"C'mon let's go." Connie said, beginning to walk over towards the two girls. Armin and Jean looked at the forest one more time before getting to their positions.

* * *

"Yahoooooo~!" Boiling crimson covered the mid-section of a tree as a 7-meter class Titan toppled beside it, Hanji laughing hysterically as she landed on a branch above the steaming corpse.

Mike Zakarius flew right past her to dispose of another Titan not too far ahead, a vapor trail forming steadily behind him. His hooks attached to a tree on the right side which allowed him to reel in before bringing the hooks back.

He repeated this process with several trees on opposite sides of each other to meet the Titan face-to-face. "Take this!" He yelled, firing his grappling hooks straight into the eyes of the now attentive deformity that began to scream in agony, its eye juice spurting all over the wires and its own body.

Mike pressed the soles of his boots against its forehead before retracting the grappling hooks back which were being pulled up through the Titan's eyebrows. The Titan suddenly brought a fist up to its forehead in an attempt to squash the troublesome legionnaire.

"Not today you piece of shit!" Mike yelled, jumping up onto the top of the Titan's head as its face caved in from punching itself. Mike wasted no time; shooting one grappling hook out into the nape of the neck before doing a back flip off its head and onto the weak spot.

He then stabbed both his blades parallel to each other in the nape and used all his strength to run them across it, blood spraying all over the Titan's back. Mike retracted his hook and shot both of them out to a nearby tree, letting his blades slice out the side of the Titan as it fell over.

Mike looked over to see Hanji's form fly behind a pair of Titans who immediately fell over. "Nice kill!" She said with a grin, landing on a branch across from him.

"Not too bad yourself." Mike replied. Suddenly, a loud crackling occurred from above which sounded as if the sky itself was tearing open. Mike and Hanji both looked up to see flashes of blue fill the sky, droplets of cold water starting to descend upon the two.

"We need to find them quickly, this rain isn't gonna help one bit." Hanji said, rain covering her lenses.

"Indeed. I could smell something big in that direction some moments ago." Mike pointed north with his blade before looking over at Hanji who nodded.

"Let's go." Mike said, catching a pair of trees with his grappling hooks before propelling himself past Hanji who followed closely behind him.

* * *

_"Where…where am I…?"_

Eren awoke, his vision blurry though able to make out that he was in a small, open area with the forest surrounding it. He could hear the faint bubbling sounds of water behind him.

_"Am I by a river…?"_ He heard the sound of thunder above and quick flashes of blue light illuminating the ground beside him. It was then that he noticed a humanoid figure on its knees, steam surrounding the torso and left elbow which appeared to have no forearm below it.

_"W-who…is that?"_ Eren wondered, trying to lift himself up but to no avail, noticing steam emitting from his lower half.

_"Why can't I…feel my legs?"_ Eren suddenly heard the figure begin to cough violently before puking blood all over the ground. He slowly reached out a hand before trying to communicate.

He was unable to speak however, feeling drowsy more and more every passing second. The figure suddenly turned its head slightly towards him. The first thing Eren noticed was a pair of grayish-blue eyes; eyes that penetrated Eren with an icy, cold stare.

_"Those eyes...the female Titan?!_" He now understood the situation and that he was in fact, defeated in battle.

_"Why…didn't she eat me?"_ Eren wondered, his vision too blurry to see her face as she grabbed his arm, beginning to pull him towards something close by.

Rain began to fall as more thunder sounded, blue flashes happening constantly while Eren's vision faded.

_"Where're you taking me…fuck! This is so fucked…I can't do anything...I can't…"_ Eren suddenly lost consciousness as his captor dragged him into the unknown, the trees swaying side to side while the massive amounts of rain began to flood the forest ground level.

* * *

**Hope that chapter was satisfactory. I know it's not what you guys wanted but sometimes you have to make chapters for other characters so you don't leave them out of the loop.**

**Reviews are always welcome ^^!**

**Have a great day/night, wherever you are!**

**-Prima.**


	3. Rescue and Identity

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**A/N:Hope this chapter was worth the wait guys! I'm gonna start focusing on the main aspect of the story after this chapter so bear with me okay? Made some minor changes to chapter 2 as well prior to this chapters release such as revised descriptions and dialogue, nothing too major though. **

**Without further adieu, I present to you the third chapter. I hope you all enjoy ^^! **

**-Prima.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Rescue and Identity **

"This isn't good…" Levi held the unconscious form of Mikasa Ackerman, her face pale and covered in sweat; the white, buttoned uniform she wore soaked in a mixture of blood and rising water.

The deluge of icy liquid continued to reign down upon the two legionnaires, trees swaying side to side by the strong winds from the storm that had enveloped the gargantuan forest in its grasp.

Levi had taken off his emerald-colored cloak; a standard for every member of the legion to stay dry from the rain, in order to stop the poor girl from bleeding out. The cloak was tightly wrapped around her back and over her wound, proving to be successful in stopping the bleeding.

However, if he didn't get her to higher ground soon, she wouldn't live to see the next hour. Usually he could just hold the fellow soldier in his arms and climb to a higher point of the tree they were up against, but there was one problem.

"Why are these bastards just standing there?!" Levi questioned in his head while looking at a Titan that stood nearly as tall as the tree; its head ridiculously huge with a wide grin that presented rotting gums and crooked, yellow teeth. Another of the same height covered the other side, the head tilted to one side with an abnormally long neck that appeared to have been stretched out, its eyes focusing themselves in opposite directions with the mouth bending past a twisted nose.

"They have to be deviants…do they know we're here?" Levi knew that if he even attempted to kill both of the hulking deformities, that there was a significant chance of him failing due to the limited maneuverability with only one hook.

He looked at Mikasa and shook his head in annoyance. "You really had to cut my other wire? You fool." He thought about using her equipment but none of it was salvageable. He had found the other sheath bent in three different sections, the blades broken and the wires bisected and dangling off a tree.

He also thought about using the gear of his deceased squad, but their equipment was already sunk below the murky water. Levi thought for a moment longer before slowly getting up, looking at Mikasa with an emotionless face as he drew his blades.

The Titan with the huge head heard something bounce off the massive tower of leaf-covered wood beside it, slowly turning to see the cause. Suddenly, a lone hook was fired against its nape, the cold steel penetrating itself deep inside the flesh of the slowly turning behemoth. Levi quickly reeled himself in; the sound of steel cable grinding against the ejection-unit as he drew his blades back.

He made a clean cut, the Titan leaning towards a group of trees to its right as it fell. Levi jumped up in the air, only to feel as if his left arm had been set ablaze. He yelled out in pain before looking over, his eyes widened.

The other deviant had caught him; its mouth opening unbelievably wide. Levi hung there, unable to escape its grasp or do any damage for his blade couldn't reach. His eyes closed, blade at the ready, thinking of his helpless subordinate who was probably drowning in the rampaging flood by now.

"Looks like this is where we die, Mikasa." He began to think about his squad as the mouth came down upon him. "I'm sorry for not being able to avenge all of you…"

A plethora of crimson accompanied the rain, creating a pool of red which mixed itself with the groundwater that submerged the Titan's feet. The behemoth then proceeded to fall over, landing on a vast amount of trees that were leveled in an instant.

The Titan had released its grasp on Levi whose body was floating in the water, his left arm fractured. He didn't seem to care, doing nothing but staring up into the clouds. A familiar figure dropped onto the steaming Titan before unequipping her maneuver gear.

"Levi!" Hanji screamed, jumping into the water before making her way beside him with wide eyes. Mike Zakarius landed on the head of the Titan with Mikasa resting against his back, her arms tied around his waist.

"Hanji…?" Levi looked up at her, rain drops falling on his face.

"Hanji! We need to go now!" Mike exclaimed. Hanji took Levi into her arms and pulled him over to the Titan.

"Mike!" Hanji yelled. He nodded, extending a hand to grab Levi's arm and pull him up onto the Titan before doing the same with Hanji. She quickly re-equipped her maneuver gear just as a group of 4 through 7-meter class Titans appeared from the west.

"Let's move" Mike yelled, his grappling hooks catching hold of two trees before releasing gas to reach them. Hanji lifted Levi onto her back before doing the same, following behind Mike closely as they rushed to escape the flooded forest.

* * *

_"Eren! Mikasa!"_

_"Mom!"_

_The district of Shiganshina was in flames and swarming with hundreds upon hundreds of Titans, their sadistic grins and deformed bodies striking fear into the villagers that stood before them._

_Eren and Mikasa, fully equipped with the scouting legion uniform and 3D Maneuver Gear, watched as their mother was pulled out from the wreckage of their home a few blocks away._

_Eren wasn't young anymore; he was ready to fight, to kill, and to cut that Titan down before it ate his mother. "Get away from her you fucker!" Eren yelled to the top of his lungs, swooping down; firing his hooks through the brick, wood, and stone of various houses that were abandoned by its inhabitants._

_He got closer and closer, Mikasa trailing behind him as the Titan lifted his mother up, its grinning mouth opened wide for a feast. "I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!" Eren squeezed the triggers on his hand grips as hard as he could, the gas creating a long vapor trail that Mikasa flew right through._

_Eren shot his hooks out one last time, drawing his blades back for the kill. This moment would decide everything! He let out a loud scream, as if it were a war cry, about to reach the Titans' nape._

_Out of nowhere, he felt a sharp pain rise through his leg, seeing himself free-falling in the air for a mere moment before eating ceramic tiles as his body rolled itself along the rooftop of a building._

_Pieces of the ceramic tiles sliced through his gums and other parts of his body, but he felt pain everywhere. He spat blood; his vision blurry, suddenly seeing something crash right next to him._

_He struggled to make out what it was only for his eyes to widen, tears beginning to form in his eyes. His mother's upper half lay there, blood seeping from her nose and mouth; eyes nearly rolled up into the back of her head. "Mom...? Mom?!"_

_He heard a crunch sound before seeing Mikasa fly by with no upper half, her legs crashing through a window nearby. "Mikasa!" Eren screamed to the top of his lungs, tears streaming down his face before beginning to choke on them. He reached his arm out, blood pouring out of his leg. The sound of heavy footsteps approached Eren while he began to think to himself._

_"This wasn't supposed to happen…I was supposed to save mother…Mikasa was supposed to live…what is this…this isn't right…" Eren felt himself get pulled away from his mother._

_"W-what…?" He looked behind him to see the Titan that killed his family, opening its mouth for another meal. "No! I'll fucking murder you! I'll fucking end you!" Eren still had the blade in his hand, beginning to stab at the Titans' clenched fist while screaming at the top of his lungs. His efforts proved futile, but he refused to give up; continuing to stab the Titan before it crushed his body._

_Blood poured out of Eren's mouth, his back broken and bones crushed, the blade no longer in his grasp. The Titan's grin never left, digging its teeth into the broken soldier before tearing him in half._

* * *

"Noooo!"

Eren eyes shot wide open as he panted heavily, cold liquid trickling down his body. Drops of sweat formed at his chin while Eren wiped away the tears that had begun to form.

He noticed a blazing light illuminating the area around him. His wandering eyes met an active fireplace; the embers glowing hot and providing warmth even though he was on the opposite end.

He saw the small establishment was void of people and had no windows to speak of, and only one bed. There was a desk with a few rolls of parchment scattered along its dusty exterior as well as a quill and inactive lantern.

Besides that, just a few buckets and chairs lying around. Eren slowly got up, noticing his pants ended right below the knees. The ends weren't neat however, and were riddled with rip and tears and…blood stains.

He looked down at his bare feet while placing a hand against his forehead. _"Did she eat my legs off?"_ He remembered being near a river with a large amount of steam around his lower half.

_"Wait…she was injured too."_ Eren's eyes suddenly went wide. _"Does that mean she's healed?!"_ He quickly looked around for a weapon he could use before she came back, searching the drawers for anything useful, but to no avail.

_"Shit! Shit! Shit!"_ Eren cursed, frantically searching for something of use; looking under the fur sheets of the bed which suggested that this used to be a hunters cabin. He heard the door open slowly, the creaking sending an uneasy chill down his spine as he swallowed saliva.

Eren clenched his fists and spun around to face his captor only to immediately let his arms drop to his sides without any hint of aggression.

"W-what...?" Eren was in an uneasy state of bewilderment; his eyes fixed on the figure whose very presence shook him to the core. He saw steam rising from her torso; the shirt she wore being covered in rips and tears with a decoration of blood splattered over the original white.

He noticed the brown, leather jacket with a military police insignia adorned into the material on the shoulder and left breast. He also noticed the left sleeve was torn, seeing her arm which was completely regenerated.

Her grayish-blue eyes reflected the glowing embers of the fire crackling between them as she slowly shut the door, her eyes refusing to meet Eren's gaze. Her golden hair shined ever so bright near the fire as she leaned against the wall beside it, holding the steaming wound with her right hand; water dripping off her clothing and hair which had been soaked in the rain.

Eren was finally able to speak, his lips quivering as he said aloud the females name in confusion.

"Annie?"

* * *

It was still noon outside, a shower of rain continuing to spread itself along the open fields outside the flooding forest. The ground was nothing but mud that sunk to Hanji's boots as she trudged towards their destination with Mike who had point.

The collection of water droplets in the air had created a dense fog, if only to annoy the legionnaires due to their limited ability to see anything around them. "Mike, do you smell anything?"

"Can't smell shit." Mike responded.

"Judging from how long we've been walking, we should be there soon." Hanji thought, her uniform drenched. She was sure that water somehow managed to get into her boots since her feet were freezing.

"Agh!" My boots are supposed to be waterproof! Fuck this weather!" She screamed, grabbing her hair and pulling it in annoyance.

"Oi…keep it down." He heard Levi's annoyed voice fill her ear, his chin rested against her left shoulder, the uninjured arm wrapped tightly under her chest.

"Oh! Sorry, you want some peace and quiet right?" Hanji said with a whisper.

"That and to avoid another Titan from ruining my day." Levi retorted, his eyes half-closed and mouth dry. The fractured arm was causing him immense discomfort, unable to wrap it around Hanji; he had to try his best to keep himself supported on Hanji's back.

"I'm sorry…" Hanji spoke, almost in a whisper, causing Levi's eyes to widen a bit. "I wish I had gotten their sooner…to save both of you. I'll buy you a few drinks when we get back, alright?"

"Judging from you, it'll probably be an experimental drug that'll turn me into a Titan…" Levi said before coughing, his face paler than usual. Hanji let out a strong laugh, trying hard to hold it in.

"Nah, it'll be something to make you taller." She said in a mischievous tone.

"I hate you." Levi responded, Hanji letting a grin form across her face.

"Hanji?" Mike asked for her attention.

"What is it?" Hanji questioned, her expression filled with curiosity.

"We're here." Mike announced, staring at the halfway point with a grimace. Hanji's eyes widened, seeing nothing but blood and dismembered corpses.

"Oh no…" Hanji made her way to a cart that was toppled over, firearms, gear, and gas cylinders alike were scattered along the land with a torn open legionnaire hanging out the back.

Levi looked on from Hanji's shoulder, gritting his teeth with fierce eyes as she surveyed the scene.

"Did they get overrun?" Mike questioned, setting Mikasa down to check for medical supplies in the cart.

"Had to have been, but they must've attacked in force." Hanji responded. She thought for a moment, setting Levi down.

"The real question here is…where the rest of them?"

Levi sat there, leaned against the cart. "I need to find something for your arm." Hanji looked around in the cart for bandages and hopefully a splint. Just her luck, she found both in record time.

"Bear with me." She pleaded, taking his arm to equip the splint. He winced in pain, gripping the cart with his free hand as she tightened the splint in place. She then wrapped the bandages around the splint and his shoulder like a cast.

"There, all done." Hanji patted Levi on the head and smiled as Mike came up to her.

"I fixed up Ackerman with some of the medical supplies in the cart, she'll be fine." He dropped a few gas canisters and blades in front of Hanji. "We can replace our gas and blades, but we should do it quickly and get the hell outta here."

"Agreed." Hanji only needed to change her gas since she made Levi drop his when they neared the exit of the forest. As soon as she replaced one tank, she heard heavy footsteps in the distance.

"Shit, we have to hurry." Hanji quickly went to change her other tank, Mike already finished as he picked up Mikasa again. Hanji now focused on adding some blades to the empty blade-holders of her sheaths.

"Done!" Hanji exclaimed, grabbing Levi and hoisting him up and onto her back. She noticed footsteps in the mud leading to the west of the Karanese District. _"That's where they went…but why are they trailing off the original path?"_ Hanji questioned.

She had no time to think and instead started to run as fast as she could down the legions trail, Mike catching up to her. Hanji looked straight ahead, ignoring the giants approaching from behind.

"You guys better be alright…" Hanji said to herself, hoping to find the Legion down the trail she followed.

* * *

**MUAHAHAHAHHAH! More cliffhangers ;D! Alright guys! The cliffhangers are gonna be toned down I promise you! The wait for the next chapter shouldn't be too long, so stay vigilant fellow legionnaires!**

**UPDATE: I added Italics for the dream sequence to make it easier for you guys. I didn't put the update up top to avoid potential spoilers. **

**Review if you'd like, I always love those ^^! **

**I bid you all a good day/night, where ever you are!**

**Prima. **


	4. Crimson

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**A/N PLEASE READ: After some thought, I realized that my writing capabilities would not be able to keep up with this story, which is becoming quite an ambitious project for me. I needed a beta-reader, someone who was not only a magnificent writer, but a damn good friend. I needed...SALAEREN! He accepted without pause and will now be correcting this story, along with adding his own personal input to certain scenes as well. **

**He helped me a lot with this chapter, and I can't thank him enough for it. Hopefully with his help and my determination, I will become better at writing as this story progresses, and I thank all of you who accompany me along the way. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the newest chapter of my story ^^!**

**-Prima**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Crimson**

"Annie?" Eren inquired, disbelief etched on his face. The blonde traitor eyed him, her face devoid of emotion. "Why are you here?"

Annie set her eyes on the fireplace, ignoring his question. She didn't react when she felt his hand grab her by the left shoulder and push her against the wall.

"Answer me!" Eren yelled, his forearm pressed against her throat. She chose not to answer, focusing on his blazing turquoise eyes that reflected glowing embers from the fire beside them.

She could feel the grip on her shoulder tighten. Eren's patience was wearing thin, his expression filled with anger and confusion.

"For you…" Only part of the answer escaped her lips. Eren lowered his gaze to the floor, but did not loosen his grip.

"Y-you mean to tell me…that you killed my comrades, my friends," He paused, his body quivering, "for me?!" Eren pushed her harder into the wall, eyes fixed on the apathetic expression; the same damn expression she always wore, the same look that made him clench his teeth together in anger.

"How can you wear such a carefree face knowing that you killed soldiers who are trying to protect us, to change the way we live for the better?!"

"Nameless soldiers who die protecting my objective do not concern me. They are just obstacles." Annie said coldly.

"Those were my friends who died for humanity, you...heartless bitch!"

"Their efforts to save a dying race are none of my concern. My only concern is your safety and willingness to come with me."

Eren's free hand tightened into a fist. "What makes you think I'd be willing to go with someone like you? Someone who butchered my friends and tried to prevent humanity from seeing the outside world?!"

"By friends, do you refer to those who held you back?" Eren's hand slid off of her shoulder.

"Wha-"

"Before we fought, you didn't turn into a Titan because your "friends" wouldn't let you."

"That's not true! They wanted me to put their trust in them-"

"How is that any different?" Eren paused, his mouth kept agape by Annie's question.

"They didn't want you to turn because they were afraid you wouldn't be able to control it." Eren took a few steps back, arms falling to his sides while Annie continued.

"They didn't trust you like we do. Why would you want to protect these people who keep you on a leash? Why protect humanity, an ignorant race that not only loathes you, but one that also pretends to understand everything about this world and each other?"

"Why do you exist then, huh? To wipe out humanity? Is that why you joined the military police, to do as much harm to us as possible?! I looked up to you, I respected you! I thought you were my friend, Annie! But you're not. You're just a monster who has no shame, one who revels in killing good people!" Eren shouted. Annie's eyes narrowed.

"If you consider me a monster, then consider yourself one as well." Eren gasped, unable to form words as she slowly leaned forward. "We're the same, Eren. Both of us can shift into Titans and we possess the strength necessary to save the human race. That isn't my current mission, however, nor is it my duty as a Warrior."

"What do you mean it isn't your mission? Duty as a Warrior? Annie, I don't understand any of this!"

"If you follow me, I promise that I will explain everything." She paused, reaching into his shirt.

"W-what are you doing?!" Eren questioned, his face reddening. Annie removed the key from his shirt and held it out between the both of them.

"The supposed mysteries of the Titans that lie within your basement will be brought to light, and I promise that you will be the one to uncover those mysteries with this key."

Eren stared at her in disbelief. "H-how do you know about the key?"

"Irvin announced that the basement in your home held the mysteries of the Titans, so I took a guess that the key around your neck is what would be used to open it." Annie shook her head, feeling that explaining right now wasn't the time. "Listen Eren, we need to-"

Suddenly, blood poured out of her mouth. She coughed and fell to her knees. Forgetting his anger in an instant, Eren kneeled down and held his hands a short distance away from her shoulders. He was at a loss for what to do, and Annie continued to decorate the wooden floor with an ominous crimson.

Annie took hold of Eren's shoulder and gripped it, her eyes completely wide as more of the sanguine liquid escaped her mouth. "Annie! What's wrong?!" Eren looked down, noticing the steam emitting from her torso.

"_That's right! She was wounded when she came in!"_

Annie fell to her knees, hands pressed to the wound while she coughed violently. Eren sat there for a moment, looking at the girl who he should consider his enemy. He sat there, immobile as she continued to suffer before him.

"_Dammit, all this talk about her being the enemy and I can't help but feel...I feel like I should help her!"_ Eren pressed a palm to his face and closed his eyes. _"Fuck! What do I do?! This is the perfect chance to run away, but I can't just leave her like this!"_

Annie's hand slid down Eren's uniform before gripping his shirt tightly, her other hand pulling on the sleeve of his jacket. She lifted her head up; the pair of half-closed, livid eyes focusing themselves into the luminescent Turquoise that reflected glowing embers from the fireplace.

"Eren..." As his name was spoken softly, Annie lost consciousness, falling sideways onto the wooden floorboards that were soaked in her own blood. Eren stared at her motionless form, then at the door.

"_Fuck it." _He picked up his tattered cloak, which was in the place he had awoken from, and applied it to the steaming wound. Applying the cloak with one hand, Eren pressed his other to Annie's forehead. It was hot and dripping with sweat, which was definitely cause for concern.

"_She's burning up." _Eren made sure blood wasn't going past her sides before taking the fellow Titan-shifter into his arms and making his way to the bed. He set her down gently, wrapping his cloak around her back and tying it securely.

He took off the jacket of his uniform and placed it at the edge of the bed. He then proceeded to bite into the cloth of his left sleeve, ripping it off.

"_Now I need to get water." _Eren darted across the room to the door, quickly opening it only to be met with complete darkness, except for the light from the cabin behind him. _"It's this dark out already?"_

He stepped outside, the bare, mushy earth feeling cool on the soles of his feet. Judging from the elevated water levels and moisture beneath him, Eren concluded that there had been slight flooding in the area. Luckily, the cabin was on a higher elevation than the ground below him, so the flood posed no threat if it returned.

The water had subsided back into the river which now danced with the light of the moon. This light made it easy for Eren to find his way down to the stream so he could soak the piece of cloth quickly. There was no time to waste. She needed him.

Eren sprinted down the small hill, ending up beside the river in a flash before throwing his cloth into the icy water. After a few seconds, he pulled the cloth out and twisted it, making sure there wasn't too much liquid stored within.

A few moments later, Eren arrived back at the cabin door, shutting it behind him. Annie's mouth was slightly open, her chest rising up and down heavily. Eren placed the cloth gently onto her forehead.

"_I'll have to keep soaking that cloth every couple of hours until that fever drops." _He took one last look at her before sitting down and resting his back against the door. Eren was unsure of what to feel; a mixture of regret, anger, confusion, and hope prevented him from thinking clearly.

He looked at his hands, hands covered in Annie's blood. _"Why am I helping her?"_ Eren remembered the time he went to pick up a spoon which caused him to undergo a transformation.

He remembered seeing the scared faces of his comrades who pointed their blades at him, afraid that he would try to kill them, afraid that he wasn't in control. His eyes slowly widened as he remembered the guard of his cell calling him a monster, and the time that Nile Dawk had wanted to dissect him.

Memories of the courtroom flooded his mind. Pastor Nick had declared him a heretic and demanded him to be executed on the spot. The merchants accused Mikasa of being a Titan, an accusation based solely on her relation to him.

Eren clenched his fists and closed his eyes. _"I am a monster…aren't I?" _He looked over to Annie and, out of nowhere, caught himself laughing quietly. Pulling the key out from his shirt, Eren ran a lazy finger over its surface, smearing blood all over the bronze item.

"_She promised me. She promised that if I go with her, I'll finally be able to use this key and see what my father wanted to show me."_

Images of Mikasa and Armin flashed in his mind, bringing a warm smile to his face. He imagined the three of them as kids, laughing and playing together, before an image of their older selves overtook it. A prideful image of them wearing the legion uniform and showing a strong salute.

"_If I leave…I won't see them or any of my other friends for a long time, if I see them ever again."_ The smile faded, and Eren tightened his grip on the key before looking at Annie.

"_Annie Leonhardt…is that even your real name? Are you even human? Am I human? Will I ever be able to find the answers to these questions? Will I ever see my friends again?"_ He sighed, letting the back of his head slam against the hard wooden door.

"_I'll have to take my chances…"_

* * *

Annie slowly awoke to the sound of birds chirping. Squinting against the sunlight that beamed throughout holes in the room, she pushed herself up. A piece of damp cloth fell into her lap.

"_Huh?"_ She picked up the damp cloth before sitting up on the edge of the bed. It was then she noticed the cloak around her torso, carefully removing it to see her wound was healed.

"_This is…Eren's cloak."_ She held it tightly for a moment, surprised at his actions. After setting the cloak down on the bed, she tied her hair back; it had been a mess ever since they'd arrived at the cabin.

Annie held the damp cloth firmly in her hand, getting up to open the door. She eyed the dried-up blood on the floorboards before placing her hand on the doorknob, turning it slowly to the right.

Sunlight crashed through the open doorway, and Annie covered her eyes as she left. After a moment her eyes adjusted to the light, and she could see her surroundings clearly.

A flock of birds flew overhead. With a loud woosh, a strong wind assaulted the trees around her and caused them to sway. Countless leaves were sent into a freefall, scattering this way and that. The cerulean sky was empty, save for a few white beds of cotton that crawled lazily along.

Looking down, Annie watched as the river bubbled and spat. She took a few steps down the hill before grinding to a halt, noticing a bare left arm on the other side of a large tree beside the river.

Her eyes widened as she stared down at the cloth in her hands. Annie approached the tree and sat beneath it, leaning back. She closed her eyes, sighing blissfully. The sound of nature was something she never failed to appreciate.

"Thank you." Annie spoke loudly, certain that he'd been able to hear it from the other side. She didn't expect him to respond, and he didn't need to. She was well aware of the condition she'd been in, as well as what would have happened to her if he had left her in that state.

"You could have run away at any time throughout the night while I was in this condition, yet you didn't. You didn't even watch me die. Why is that?"

"I've decided to come with you." Annie's expression never changed as she tilted her head to the sky, watching the fluffy bodies of white glide across the sea of azure.

"This is going to be a long road, Eren."

"It's one that I'm prepared to walk, as long as you explain everything to me and promise that we can go to uncover the mysteries in my basement. No more lies after this."

"You have my word." Annie assured. Eren clenched his fists, staring off into the distance. Staring at the direction they'd come from, staring at where Wall Rose was waiting eagerly for his return.

"_One day, I will see you all again…"_ He thought of Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Christa, Ymir, Sasha, Reiner, Bertholdt, Connie, Irvin, Levi, Hanji, and Hannes; all of his close comrades that he fought beside for so long.

"_It may take years, but I know you'll stay strong and continue to fight. Armin, Mikasa...everyone. Keep fighting."_

"Are you ready to go, Eren?"

"Not yet."

Annie looked over her shoulder. "It's a beautiful day out. Annie, I want to stay here a bit longer if that's alright with you."

Annie was taken aback by his response. She'd never figured him for the calm, reflective type. "I see no problem with that."

No more words were spoken between them. Only chirping birds and howling bursts of wind filled the void between the two Shifters.

Eren took one last look in the direction of Wall Rose, determined to feel no regrets.

"_Goodbye…everyone."_

* * *

**Update: August 19th, 2013 A/N: Hey everyone! The cover photo for this fanfiction is now complete and it's the illustrated version of the ending scene to this chapter. You'll find the link for the full picture on my profile page. It'll be right at the top ^^! I take no credit for the picture. The artist, Lintankleen, did a fantastic job and I can't thank her enough for the hard work she has put into this wonderful cover photo! I'll be posting this message at the beginning of chapter 5 as well for the people who've already read this chapter and may not see this message. **

**I would also like to thank deathmakesapoet for recommending my story on his excellent Mikasa/Eren fanfiction, Tears of a Titan. I hope you all check it out if you haven't already, it's really good! **

**I hope you all have a great day :)!**

**-Prima. **


	5. Last Stand

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**Chapter 5: Last Stand **

_Day before Eren's departure..._

"Grraaaaaah!"

"Keiji!" Irvin yelled, reaching out to him in vain as the man's upper body disappeared into a cloud of red haze. Irvin narrowed his eyes at the approaching monstrosity, its elongated face and yellow teeth covered in the blood of his deceased comrade.

The commander readied his blades, keeping a steady pace along the ceramic tiles of the rooftop as he neared his target. The killer opened its jaws wide, stretching a hand out to try and grab its next meal.

The meal never came, however, for the commander had already sliced his way through the creature's arm and stood upon its shoulder, his blades bent and soaked with steaming blood. Irvin didn't stop there, stabbing his blades into its weak point and slicing them across to the other side. As the cold metal ripped through burning flesh, Irvin's expression never changed; but he certainly felt the hatred, writhing and screaming within.

Blood seeped out of its steaming nape, and the beast smashed face-first through the roof in front of it, pieces of ceramic tile scattering across the dusty road below. Irvin spotted someone looking out a window in a tall building to the east of his position.

He immediately shot out the hooks from his maneuver gear which proceeded to fly across various rooftops and into the wooden exterior of the building. The commander then propelled himself to his desired location, passing by a group of Titans who failed to reach him in time as he smashed through the window between the two hooks.

"C-commander?!" Sasha Braus exclaimed, jumping back as Irvin slowly got up.

"Braus, how many made it?"

"I-I don't know sir...we're all scattered..." The girl shook uncontrollably as she spoke, stuttering and casting her eyes all around the room. They never focused on one spot for too long, proof of the fear that had gripped her.

Irvin walked up to her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder, still causing the poor girl to jump.

"Sasha." He said sternly, momentarily freeing the girl from her daze. "I need you to pull yourself together. We will make it through this, but you have to focus. Do you understand?"

Sasha slowly nodded, her eyes watery. "Not all of us, though..." Irvin tilted his head before looking to the side, seeing what remained of Nanaba and Henning decorating the walls.

Irvin's eyes widened, his hand slipping away from Sasha's arm as he went over to the disfigured corpses. It was then he noticed the huge gap in the wall. Crushed bricks, splintered wood, and shattered glass littered the floor around him.

In a flash, a 15-meter class Titan reached its hand out for him. Irvin quickly jumped out of the way, only to realize that the hand had changed direction, reaching now for a trembling Sasha.

"Look out!" Irvin quickly jabbed his dull blades into the Titan's arm in an attempt to distract it, only to see them shatter before his eyes. The Titan noticed this minor annoyance, and with a swipe of its arm sent him flying through a nearby window and into the street below.

"Commander Smith!" Sasha screamed. Noticing the hand reaching out for her again, the quivering legionnaire unsheathed a pair of blades in an effort to defend herself. As the hand closed in, she tensed up, drawing her blades back at the ready.

The Titan never came in contact with Sasha, its fingers flying past its head as steam arose from its hand. Before it could react, Sasha had recovered from her swing and was already running up its arm. Brave though it may have appeared to an onlooker, Sasha's expression betrayed the fear she held inside.

Swinging over to its nape, she fiercely drew a perfect cut along the surface, slicing through to the nerve cluster beneath. The Titan fell lifelessly onto the building, crushing both the foundation and the two deceased legionnaires beneath.

"_Huh?" _Sasha suddenly felt herself being pulled away. She looked over to see a Titan had grabbed her wire. Panic immediately began to set in as she struggled to cut herself loose, but to no avail.

She started choking back tears as the Titan opened its mouth slowly. It was then that Sasha noticed a figure fly behind the Titan, blood splattering out of its nape immediately afterwards before falling over onto the ground.

She suddenly felt something pull at her waist. Before she could register what had happened, Sasha was already in a building on the opposite side of the street.

"Sasha!" She heard the voice of Connie as he eased himself up by a shattered window.

"C-Connie?" She looked up groggily at her approaching friend, who then grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Are you alright?!" He looked at her with worry as her body began to quiver.

"Connie!" She screamed, burying her face into his chest and beginning to sob.

"O-oi!" Connie stuttered, holding his arms up in surprise. It was at that moment, he noticed her eyes shut tight. He knew that same feeling; she was trying to make everything go away, trying to forget, to make it all seem like it was just a bad dream. In his own experience, it never worked. Forgetting about the monsters all around them simply could not be done.

Her shaking hands gripped the brown jacket he wore tightly, the leather creaking at her sudden grasp. Connie's eyes narrowed, placing his hands gently on her shoulders.

"Sasha, look at me!" She slowly shook her head, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks as she continued to moan pitifully.

"Sasha!"

"Connie! Get potato girl on her feet, we need to move." Connie looked up, seeing Ymir standing over them with a pair of bent, blood-stained blades. The other girl suddenly detached them and the blades fell to the wooden floor, startling the already-startled girl buried in Connie's chest.

"Saving her came at the cost of my last two blades. Staying hidden is our best option for now." Connie nodded to her words before looking back at a quivering Sasha.

"Sasha, listen to me. We need t-" A large, deformed hand came crashing in from behind, Sasha gripping Connie's jacket tighter and screaming while Ymir looked for an exit. The owner of the hand was a large, top-heavy Titan who just so happened to hear the three legionnaires in the building beside it.

The hand reached for Connie who unsheathed a blade, wrapping one arm around Sasha. Connie knew he didn't have enough time to run out of the way with her in his arms. Right when it was about to grab him, Connie quickly drew the blade back before slicing it across its hand.

Two fingers flew across to the other side of the room. Its hand paused for a moment, the Titan's grin never leaving its face as Connie took this time to run off with Sasha towards Ymir who was next to a flight of stairs.

"Down here." She said before running down to the first floor, Connie right behind her with Sasha. As soon as he went past the entrance to the stairs, the Titan's hand flew right behind him, smashing out the back of the building.

Connie pulled Sasha with him as he followed Ymir down the steps and to the first floor. He watched in horror as a pair of 4-meter class Titans got on their knees and began to smash their way through the building.

"Connie!" Ymir shouted, pointing towards the cellar. Connie bolted for the cellar entrance, making sure Sasha got down there first before looking up at Ymir who was about to join them.

"Ymir! Behind you!" Connie yelled. Ymir looked over her shoulder to see the pair of Titan's right behind her. Ymir turned back to Connie with an emotionless expression before closing the door.

"Ymir!" Connie screamed, complete darkness flooding the cellar. He furrowed his brows while his body shook "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He yelled, throwing a fist into the wooden board to one of the steps, the hand becoming riddled with splinters as it went through the other side.

His eyes were now filled with worry, hearing the whimpering noises from Sasha who was alone in the dark somewhere below. Focusing on her was his top priority right now.

Ymir was probably dead, and there was no point in worrying about it because Sasha needed help. Connie began to descend the staircase, the weight of his boots causing the steps to creak. He eventually reached the concrete floor and began slowly approaching her.

"Sasha, it's me. Don't worry, we're safe now." Knowing he was right behind her, he tried his best not to startle his weeping friend. "I'm gonna put my hand on your shoulder, okay?" Right when he did so, she yelped and scurried into a corner.

"_Just what exactly happened with her...?"_

"Sasha, it's okay...it's okay." He could see her silhouette quivering since his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. It was then that he noticed the shape of a lantern to his left and immediately walked over to it.

He attempted to find some matches, hearing the heavy footsteps of Titans from above, dirt falling from the ceiling and onto the floor below.

"_We should be safe here. Its not like a giant foot is gonna come crashing down into this room and crush both of us...right?"_ Connie began sweating, finally grabbing a box of matches with his shaky hand while thinking of all the terrible things that could happen while they were stuck in here.

He shook his head, trying his best to ignore the disturbing thoughts in his mind as he lit a match to light the candle inside the lantern. At his success, the whole cellar was illuminated by the red-orange glow from the newfound light source.

He turned around to see Sasha huddled in the same corner as before, knees tightly kept up to her chest. He began to walk over to her when he noticed, to the corner of his eye, a large crate with what appeared to be...

"Potatoes...?" Connie said to himself, slowly approaching the large quantity to the first half of Sasha's nickname. He picked one up, looking at Sasha then back at the potato before walking over to her.

"Sasha, I have something for you." A smile spread across his face as he knelt down beside her, presenting the potato. Before he could even blink, the potato was taken from his hand and thrown across the room, a loud thump sounding throughout the cellar.

Connie looked at where the potato was thrown in surprise before feeling a pair of hands grip his shirt. He looked back towards Sasha, fresh tears falling from her cheeks as she reluctantly let words escape her lips; words about events that she didn't want to remember, words she knew had to be said in order to make Connie understand.

"I w-watched Nanaba and H-Henning get crushed by a wall! I s-saw K-Keiji get eaten from afar!" She continued on with her stuttering, eyes completely wide, pulling Connie closer as he stared at her in surprise.

"I...I saw C-Commander Smith get h-hit out a window trying to s-s-save me!" She looked down. "I...I killed one Titan...just one...b-before you guys saved me..." She shook her head repeatedly, gripping Connie's shirt tighter.

"A-and then...Ymir got eaten! C-Connie...I can't take it anymore! It's too much! It's too-"

Connie's lips crashed against her own. Sasha's eyes went wide, her panic-stricken cries dying in her throat, and her tumultuous mind went blank.

"_Eh? Connie...?" _The bug-eyed girl never took her gaze off of the red-faced boy, his eyes refusing to look at her after what he had done.

"I, uh...needed you to calm down..." He averted his eyes, feeling as though his face was about to explode. The boy's nervous heart threw itself against his ribcage again and again, a dull and painful throbbing sensation. "...and I couldn't...think of any other way to, erm...snap out-um, snap YOU out...of it." Connie refused to look back at his astonished friend, afraid of what awaited him should he give in to the temptation.

Even if that did snap her out of it, how was she going to feel about him now? He had created an extremely awkward situation for the both of them. Sure, his ridiculous action helped to calm her down, but at what cost? Their friendship? If they made it out of there alive, would she even look at him the same way again?

"Sasha-" Before he could finish, she grabbed him by the shirt and pressed her own lips to his. The tables were turned as his own eyes widened, arms thrown up in surprise. It was the very last thing he'd expected.

After a moment of awkward silence she pulled away, and Connie found himself leaning forward ever-so-slightly, desperate to hold on to the sensation. Sasha buried her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around his back. He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but that didn't matter.

"Thank you." She said softly, a small smile forming across her lips. Connie placed one hand on her head, and the other around the small of her back as she leaned into him.

"Don't worry Sasha, we're gonna make it outta this. Just say strong." He took his hand and lifted her chin up, kissing her on the forehead gently.

"_Hey, she let me do it once. Why not again?"_ he thought.

"O-okay." Her cheeks were a bright red, an awkward smile formed on her face as she pointed over to the crates.

"C-could I have a...uh..." Connie let out a small laugh before patting her on the head.

"Sure, I'll grab one for both of us." He got up in order to grab a few potatoes from the nearby crate as Sasha began to process everything that just happened. Connie was trying to process everything as well, his eyes still wide.

He quickly grabbed two potatoes before walking back over to the embarrassed girl who had been twiddling her thumbs.

"Here, eat up. We have to get moving after this, hopefully regroup with some of our guys." Connie looked up at the ceiling, the loud footsteps had ceased, the Titans in this building were gone.

Sasha slowly nodded her head, a bit of worry on her face, but she put some faith into Connie's words and decided to follow him. They then began to eat their food before getting ready to leave the questionable safety of the cellar.

* * *

Irvin slowly opened his eyes to the beautiful azure sky above. The heavy rain had subsided after they had reached the village, trying to escape the Titans who found them at the halfway point between The Forest of Giant Trees and the Karanese District.

He felt a sense of peace, of tranquility. The Legion Commander had begun to entertain thoughts of relaxation before he heard the thunder of his great enemy, once again seeking to feast upon the flesh of man.

"_If only I hadn't given that order..." _The footsteps grew louder as he raised up one of his hilts to the sky, looking at what was left of the attached blade. He noticed his 3D Maneuver Gear was broken and scattered around him

"_If only I had ordered them to try and make it to the walls...we wouldn't be stuck in this situation." _The ground beneath him trembled and quaked; the same top-heavy Titan that pursued Connie now reached for the Commander. Eyes sealed tight in resignation, the man let out a heavy sigh and brought a hand to his mouth.

"_Men...all of you brave soldiers...forgive me for placing you all in this hopeless situation." _The Titan's hand was inches away from Irvin's body, reaching so torturously slow for its quarry.

"_This truly was my last resort, but I can't stop now." _

A gargantuan finger grazed his jacket. His index finger traced the edge of his teeth.

"_With this, I-!"_

An explosion of crimson, a deafening roar crashed against the man's ears as the Titan reeled back. Its arm, now severed, flew backwards and crashed against the ground far behind it.

Irvin's eyes widened, watching the Titan's head suddenly fly over him and into a building to his left. He turned back to see the headless body pinned to the ground, its arm held down with one hand as a fist repeatedly impacted its nape. The nape was extirpated within seconds, its killer slowly rising from the steaming body.

Irvin's eyes narrowed sternly as he examined his "savior". The Titan looked to be around 12-meters tall with long, messy black hair that extended a little past the shoulder blades. Its muscular frame was shaped with curves, including a very apparent bust, signifying it as a female. Exhaling slowly through its mouth, Irvin fought the desire to flee as it revealed row after row of daggerlike teeth.

The Titan's skintone was gray in color with no exterior muscle. Though its appearance was very plain overall, it was not without any unique aspects; its heterochromic eyes in particular were of interest, the right being chestnut brown while the left was amber.

The new female type glanced at Irvin who had eased himself up, still in a state of bewilderment from what had just occurred. She then began to move down the street towards a group of Titans surrounding a building to the right.

Irvin started to follow it, only to hear one of his men cursing in another street from behind him.

"_Is that...Gerger?"_ Irvin knew that saving his men was more important than the newfound female type; he had to make sure Gerger was alright. He turned around and began to run towards the source while unclipping his Maneuver Gear from his waist and dropping his hilts. He ran through a couple of alleyways before coming across one of the Legion's carts; its contents were spilled across the pavement.

Gas, blades, spare wire, food, and firearms flooded the outside of the cart which had been tipped over. The wheels were gone with one horse missing and the other being chewed on by a 3-meter Titan who was on its knees, paying no attention to Irvin who was directly in front of it.

"Fuck!" Irvin heard the voice of Gerger again who sounded like he was in pain. Irvin ran past the Titan who still payed no attention to him, gnawing on the horses neck.

"Gerger!" Irvin found the man sitting on a small crate with a bottle of Vine. He appeared to be flustered, his other hand holding a flintlock pistol that swayed back and forth lazily as Irvin approached him.

"Gerger, are you alright?" The Legionnaire didn't bother to look up, his eyes too focused on the bottle of Vine.

"Oh I'm just fucking fine and dandy, Commander!" Irvin took a seat next to him, looking at his stump of a leg which was covered in bloodied bandages.

"What happened to your leg, Gerger?" The Legionnaire narrowed his eyes before looking at his stump.

"My squad was ambushed by a group of these fuckers and I lost my leg in the process. Nanaba and Henning patched me up and said they'd be back with help soon, but they've been gone for a while now."

Irvin closed his eyes before giving him the news. "They didn't make it."

"I see..." Gerger looked at the bottle of Vine again before smashing it to the ground. "And I'm all out of fucking Vine! Goddammit!"

Irvin payed no attention to his sudden outburst, looking over at the 3-meter who was now eating the horses innards. Irvin studied the unusual behavior of the 3-meter, for it was commonly known that Titans don't eat animals. Even if this one was a Deviant, it was still strange."What about that Titan over there?" Gerger looked over to the one Irvin was now pointing at.

"Oh, that one? I'm just waiting until its finished with Bessy over there before it comes to bite my other leg off." He brought the pistol up between the both of them. "Hopefully I can shoot its eyes out with this lil' bastard before then."

Irvin shook his head, unable to keep himself from letting out a small chuckle.

"You're drunk." He finally said, causing Gerger to bring forth a chuckle that would've drowned out Irvin's if he hadn't stopped.

"Damn right I am! That's why I said _hopefully_."

"You want to stay alive, right Gerger?"

"Of course! My wife would be _beyond_ pissed if I got eaten by one of these prancing shitbags!"

"Then we should move soon and find more of my men." Irvin said, finding a pair of operating devices in the cart before attaching blades into them. There were no sheaths in the cart however. Those were in the other cart, which was on the other side of the village. He had to strap the hilts to his pants to keep them in place.

"Gerger, use that bag over there and fill it up with as many gas canisters as you can."

"Yessir." Gerger moved to fulfill the order, while Irvin paid close attention to the 3-meter who was almost done with its meal.

"Are any of these other pistols loaded?" Irvin asked, Gerger looking back with a grin.

"They're all loaded. Like I said, I was here for a while...hehehe."

"I'm gonna take care of our friend over here, I suggest getting your job done fast." Irvin advised, grabbing a gas canister and a loaded pistol before walking over to the 3-meter.

Irvin never let up his calm demeanor, even though he was now only a few feet away from the Titan who slowly lifted its head up to look at him. Its mouth was hanging open, covered in the horse's blood while entrails dangled from its teeth.

Irvin tossed the gas canister with perfect aim, sending it right into the mouth of the unsuspecting creature before aiming his pistol and pulling the trigger. The Titan was replaced with nothing but fire and steam; everything down to the shoulder blades had been erased from existence.

Irvin dropped the empty pistol before casually walking back to Gerger who was done with loading the gas canisters, and was now working on a new objective.

"Gerger?" Irvin questioned.

"I'm loading another bag filled with the pistols I prepared earlier. I think they'll come in handy if we use them and the gas together like you just did."

"You better hurry then." Irvin suggested, looking towards a large group of 3-4 meter class Titans that had appeared from behind a few large buildings. Gerger let out a laugh.

"Hahaha, just our luck."

Irvin grabbed two gas canisters from the cart and let them roll down towards the approaching man-eaters. He quickly grabbed two pistols and waited until the Titans were right next to the gas canisters before shooting them in succession of one another.

Most of the Titans lost both their legs and fell onto the ground hard. Stopping was not an option for these creatures however, for they started to drag themselves towards Irvin with the same grins they always wore upon their deformed faces.

"Gerger."

"Almost done!"

"No time, we're leaving." Irvin grabbed the bag of gas canisters and pulled Gerger out of his chair.

"Hold the bag of pistols and use as many as you need to keep them off of us." Irvin ordered, placing the bag on Gerger's chest, the bag of gas canisters held by Irvin's left hand as he dragged Gerger across the ground with his right.

Gerger nodded, pulling out two pistols and holding them at the ready as Irvin dragged him towards a nearby alleyway. "They won't be able to fit through there." He stated.

"Here they come. Hopefully being drunk makes me better at aiming." Gerger aimed his pistols at the eyes of an approaching 4-meter, dragging itself fast along the ground, steam emanating from its slowly regenerating legs.

Its face was only inches away from Gerger's body as he shot both its eyes out. The Titan stopped in its tracks, unable to see as steam poured out of his wounds.

"Hey! I _am_ better at aiming like this! Hahaha!" Gerger laughed as he let the pistols drop to the ground before pulling out another pair from the bag.

"They're getting a bit too close for comfort, Commander."

"We'll make it." Another Titan stopped in its tracks and began to yell wildly while covering its steaming eye sockets.

"Got another one!" Gerger yelled in victory as he dropped another pair of pistols, about to reach for another when suddenly, a trio of Titans appeared from the steam, their legs fully regenerated.

"Well...shit. How long until we're in the alleyway, Commander?"

"Just a bit more, why?"

Gerger let out a sigh. "Can you give me a canister, Commander?" The Commander looked behind him and his eyes widened, seeing the trio closing in fast. He still wanted to get Gerger out alive, even knowing the situation.

"You're gonna make it Gerger, just keep it up-" Gerger grabbed his arm.

"A gas canister, Irvin." The Commander was surprised at hearing his first name, looking down at the fellow legionnaire.

"Listen, my wife's a bitch who always nags so I'll be dead either way, and to be honest, I'd rather die while killing some Titans instead of getting nagged to death." He felt Irvin let go of his cloak, a gas canister being placed in his left arm.

"I'll let her know you died a soldier's death, Gerger." Irvin assured as Gerger pulled a pistol out of the bag with a laugh.

"Hahaha, she'll punch you square in the jaw if you say something as meaningless as that to her. It's been an honor, Commander."

"Likewise, Gerger." The commander ran off with the bag as Gerger pointed his pistol to the gas canister that he held tightly. He kept a big, shit-eating grin on his face as a Titan reached down to grab him.

"Lemme wipe that smile off your face, you big ugly fuck."

Irvin reached the alleyway only to hear a loud explosion from behind. He looked back to see steam filling up the area, his eyes narrowed. Losing a man was never easy for him, but never has he let it get in the way of the task at hand.

Irvin closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh. He continued onward, trying to find a vantage point where he could signal his location to whatever was left of his men. He didn't get too far before coming across another legionnaire...or what was left of her.

"Rene..."

Irvin clenched his fists, looking at the barely recognizable corpse. Her throat had been impaled off of a picket fence. The house it belonged to was barely standing, half of it leaning to the side and onto the ground.

Rene's lower half was nowhere to be seen, her insides sprawled out along the ground and on the fence. Her left arm had been hanging by a thread of muscle with the bone pointing right out of her elbow.

Her right arm was angulated in the opposite direction it should've been. Bone creeped out from the torn muscle of her forearm and you could see her spinal column peeking out her back which had been ripped open.

Her pupils were centered on the sky, blood still seeping from her mouth. Irvin set down the bags before walking over, gripping her shoulders and pulling her lifeless corpse off of the fence, setting what remained of her gently onto the ground.

"I'm sorry..." Irvin said aloud, gently closing her eyes.

It was then that he noticed a trail of innards and blood that lead to a 4-meter Titan nearby who was busy eating one of Rene's legs. Irvin pulled his blades out and held them at the ready as he approached the kneeling deformity.

He began to move faster, his blades drawn back and focusing his eyes on a wall beside the Titan. He continued to gain momentum, the Titan noticing his approach. Irvin reached the wall just as the Titan swung its hand towards him.

Irvin ran up the wall, the hand barely missing him. Brick and dust scattered as Irvin did a backflip onto the Titans' hand before running up to its shoulder. He then drew his blades back for the kill, rotating his body in such a way that allowed him to spin unbelievably fast along the nape.

The beast fell face-first onto the ground, steam slowly replacing its decomposing body.

"Commander Irvin!" The Commander turned to see Mike Zakarius fly in beside him.

"Mike!" Irvin exclaimed in surprise, quickly noticing Mikasa on his back.

"Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine." Mike looked over at the steaming Titan. "Nice kill."

"Where's Hanji? Did you retrieve Levi and Eren?" Irvin asked without acknowledging Mike's compliment.

Mike narrowed his eyes. "Levi has a fracture in one of his arms, Hanji is carrying him and should be here soon...we couldn't retrieve Eren, sir..." Mike leaned Mikasa onto a part of the picket fence that wasn't covered in blood.

"What of Levi's squad?"

"All dead."

Irvin closed his eyes as Hanji flew in with Levi on her back. "Commander Irvin!" She addressed.

"Hanji, glad to see you're alright...how is he?"

"Peachy as always." Hanji replied sarcastically, earning a glare from Levi.

Irvin turned to see Mike kneeling beside Rene's corpse. "She's been in the Legion for three years and had a kill count of thirty-seven on her own." He said while stroking his goatee.

"No matter how skilled you are in this Legion, you're always prone to the same outcome as this brave woman...one day, my fate could be the same." Irvin stated.

"That day won't come for a long time, I'm sure." Mike said, easing himself up before offering a salute to Rene.

"What exactly happened here?" Hanji asked, letting Levi off her back.

"We fled from the halfway point because of a huge mob of Titans that came out of the thick fog present earlier. I had to make the call between trying to go back to the walls or defending this village." Irvin narrowed his eyes and grimaced. "I chose the village."

"Bad call." Levi chimed in, earning a nod from Irvin.

"I tried to keep the formation intact, but due to how quickly the Titans advanced on us, everyone split up in a panic and formed small squads. Many were eaten within the first moments of the attack and the carts split off into different directions so no one could resupply properly."

"That explains the lack of sheaths." Mike brought up, looking at Irvin's absence of maneuver gear.

"I have a plan to get us out of this situation, however." Irvin went over to the bags he had set down.

"What's in those?" Hanji asked curiously.

"My plan." Irvin answered, looking over to the center of the village. "That building in the center of this village has a vantage point I could use to signal anyone else alive our location. I'll explain once we get up there."

"I understand, we're sitting ducks out here now that I think about it." Mike rested Mikasa on his back once again as Irvin picked up the bags.

"Let's move."

* * *

"Christa!" Reiner yelled as the helpless girl looked up in horror at a 2-meter Titan who had made its way into the small house that Reiner, Bertholdt, and Christa were hold up in.

Reiner had depleted all of his blades, resorting to the usage of household appliances in an effort to fend off the mob of Titans that have been attempting to get inside the house.

"Reiner!" The hulking soldier looked over to see Bertholdt throw a woodcutting axe towards him. Reiner caught it and without hesitation and ran as fast as he could towards Christa.

"_I'm not letting that piece of shit take her from me!" _Reiner let out a war-cry, raising the axe above his head before jumping up in the air and swinging it down into the nape of the 2-meter.

The 2-meter fell over to the ground in front of Christa's feet. Reiner immediately felt another presence behind him, doing a half-spin with the axe and landing the weapon right into another Titan's neck. Unfortunately for Reiner, the axe stayed put and wouldn't come out.

"Shit!" Reiner's eyes met the Titan who had ignored the axe embedded in its neck. He needed to protect Christa, even if it costed him his own life.

"Graaaaah!" Reiner uppercutted the Titan's chin in an attempt to delay it. The Titan's head was ridiculously small, so Reiner took his chances and had nearly broken his hand in doing so. He then pushed his whole body against the creature before turning his head over to the shocked girl. "Christa! Run!"

"Reiner! I...I can't!" Reiner's eyes widened, staring down at her leg which had been ripped open.

"C-Christa!" Reiner felt his heart drop._ "She doesn't deserve this to happen to her, she can't be killed here! I want to marry her! I won't let her die! I won't let her die!"_

"I WON'T LET YOU DIE!" Reiner screamed, using all of his strength to push the Titan out of the opening, managing to tackle it to the ground, much to Christa's surprise.

Reiner then gripped the axe handle tightly, pulling it out from the Titan's neck. He raised the axe above his head before swinging it down into the Titan's throat. He pulled it out again before getting on one side of the immobile creature and beginning to hack at its throat repeatedly, the blade eventually tearing through the nerve cluster in its nape.

Reiner panted heavily, his eyes filled with rage as all the Titans around the area noticed him. They ranged from 3 to 15 meters, all craving for his flesh. "So this is how it's gonna be..." Reiner readied the axe again.

"Bertholdt! Please, help Reiner! He's-" Christa had dragged herself to where Bertholdt was, screaming for his help only to stop entirely when she found him. Surrounding him was a group of steaming Titan corpses.

Bertholdt was panting heavily while holding a steaming sickle tightly in his right hand. He walked past Christa without saying a word and towards Reiner who had just chopped off the legs of an attacking 4-meter.

Bertholdt came up from behind and swung the sickle right across the nape, bringing the 4-meter's life to an end.

"Bert!" Reiner yelled in surprise as his tall friend walked up beside him.

"We can't kill all of them, Reiner."

"I know, bu-"

"You're gonna have to-"

"NO!" Bert turned his head towards Reiner in surprise as the large man gritted his teeth, glaring at him. "Absolutely not!"

Reiner looked away, as if he were ashamed at what Bert was bringing up. "I'm a soldier, Bert!"

"No, you're a W-" Before Bert could finish, Reiner swung his axe at the Titan nearest to him, chopping off one of its legs. Bert followed suit, bringing his sickle along the downed Titan's nape.

"You'll regret this decision, Reiner. You won't be able to save her like this!"

"SHUT UP!" Reiner chopped another leg off, Bert repeating the same process before Reiner chopped another leg off, and another, and another, Bert continuously slicing all of the napes that Reiner had left for him as they reached the 10 to 15-meter Titans; the ones they couldn't even hope to kill.

By the time Reiner had reached the foot of a 10-meter, the axe blade was ready to fall off the handle, and the sickle Bert held was bending from the amount of skin it was cutting through.

"Reiner!"

"Bert! I told you, I-" Reiner noticed that Bertholdt was looking over to where Christa was. He turned to see Christa in the hands of a 15-meter who had made its way through the roof.

"Christa!" Reiner yelled in panic, bringing his hand up to his mouth in an instant. A speeding gray blur suddenly sliced through the arm holding Christa, scooping her up and landing not far from where Bert and Reiner were standing. The one-armed 15-meter roared and stumbled out of view. Christa was now in the hands of a Titan that looked to be about 12 meters in size, with smooth skin and ragged hair.

It slowly turned to face Bert and Reiner, its eyes sending a jolt through both of their bodies. Reiner focused on its amber iris, his whole body tensing up. "Bert, that's the Titan that ate..."

"_Berik!" _

"_Reiner!" The amber eyes of Reiner's friend were suddenly enclosed behind the mouth of a 7-meter Titan, its gray skin covered in steam as it slowly regenerated. Reiner fell to his knees, watching the blood of his friend trickle down the lower jaw of his killer._

_The Titan's pair of chestnut brown eyes studied the small boy as a younger Bertholdt grabbed him. _

"_Reiner! We need to go!"_

"_Not without Berik! He's still in there! That fucker ate him! I'm not leaving him, Bert! I'm not leaving him!" _

"_We have no choice, Reiner! I'm not letting you die along with him! He brought this on himself!" _

"_He's not dead! He's trapped in there! I can't leave him!" Reiner continued to cry out for his friend while Bertholdt tried to pull him to safety._

"_Berik!" _

Reiner let out a gasp as the female Titan set Christa down in front of him, her heterochromic eyes focusing on the 10-15 meters that approached from behind the two men.

Reiner, taking note of Christa's condition, put aside all thoughts of Berik and turned his attention to her. He shut out everything but Christa and that wound. Berik's killer could wait.

"Christa!"

As Reiner ran over to Christa, the female Titan took a step past him and proceeded to slash her fingernails across a nearby Titan's eyes, blinding it before she sunk her teeth into its throat and pulled its head off, the nerve cluster along with it.

A 15-meter came up behind her in an attempt to bite her from behind, but was met with her hand slicing through its nape with unbelievable speed.

"_Her movements are fast..."_

"Bert! Help me out over here!"

"_Her movements are much faster than Annie's." _

"Bert! Stop looking at that Titan's ass! I need you over here, right now!" Bert looked over, seeing Reiner ripping off the sleeve of his shirt. He took one last look at the female Titan who had just taken down four 15-meters in a matter of seconds by using tooth and nail methods of extirpation.

"Christa, you're gonna be fine!" Reiner held Christa tight in his arms. She looked up at him with radiant, blue eyes, her face masked with pain.

"Reiner, it really hurts..." Reiner shut his own eyes, trying to shut out her pained expression. He held her tighter, opening his eyes once more and looking over to Bertholdt.

"Bert! See if there's some Vine left in the house!" He needed to clean the wound with some alcohol. It took Bertholdt a few minutes to search what was left of the house, eventually stumbling upon a half-used bottle of Vine in the kitchen.

He ran back to Reiner just as the female Titan ripped off both legs of a Titan. She brought her foot down through its throat and crushed the nerve-cluster.

A group of 15-meters surrounded her as she readied her nails. They all attacked at once in an attempt to stop her onslaught. She smashed her elbow into one behind her, the amount of force caving its face in and stunning it.

She then swiped her nails across another Titan's eyes. It stumbled back, turning slightly after losing focus of where to go. She took this chance to take hold of its nape into her mouth, ripping it open so she could slice through the nerve cluster with her hand.

Her focus turned towards the first Titan she struck, taking it by the hair and throwing it to the ground, standing on its nape with one foot. She then did a complete spin, her claws making their way into the throat of another 15-meter, causing its head to nearly fall backward, hanging by threads of the nerve cluster. =

The amount of force applied with her foot had caused her to crush through the nape she stood on. She stepped out of the pool of steaming blood emanating from the crushed nape, slashing her nails across the remaining threads of the other Titan's nerve cluster.

A Titan who was about to sink its teeth into her shoulder was met with failure as she connected her elbow right between its eyes with such force, that its face exploded into nothing but blood, bone, and steam.

She turned around and brought her nails up to its armpits, slicing the arms off with ease. She then got behind it and used her nails to stab through the nape and into the nerve cluster. The Titan fell over lifeless as another one managed to catch the female Titan off guard, sinking its teeth into her arm.

"Shit!" Reiner cursed, watching as Bertholdt ran up to him with the Vine. Both of them, including Christa, looked on in horror as the female Titan's arm fell to the ground. The female's arm regenerated in an instant and she grabbed the attacker's throat, lifting it into in the air.

"What the hell?!" Reiner exclaimed.

She took her other hand and used it to raise the Titan above her head before ripping it in half with ease. She let the lower half drop, holding the upper half's back out in front of her before smashing her knee into its nape.

"Reiner! What the hell is going on?!" Connie flew in, Sasha right behind him and watching as the female Titan dropped the steaming corpse before falling to her knees.

Reiner said nothing, his eyes narrowing as the female's nape burst into steam and released its master. Everyone looked over to the mist, watching as the silhouette stumbled towards them. The figure emerged, her half-closed, chestnut eyes scanning the area.

"Ymir...?" Connie choked out in disbelief.

She slowly approached Christa, who had been eased onto the ground by Reiner.

"Christa," she said, a small smile forming on her face as she continued to stumble forward. Her face was as white as a ghost and her hair was disheveled, going past her shoulders.

She stretched a hand out towards Christa, which she slowly let fall to her side as Reiner put an arm in between them. Christa looked up at him with worry, still bewildered at Ymir's true form.

"R-Reiner, what're you doing? I'm just as shocked as everyone else is about this, b-but she saved us-"

"Why did you eat him?" Reiner questioned, causing everyone's eyes to widen except Bertholdt's, who stood there in interest.

"I...I don't understand your que-"

"My friend Berik, you ate him when I was a kid...why?"

Before Ymir could answer, a flare sounded off in the distance.

"Guys! It's a green flare!" Connie exclaimed. "That means the commander's there, up in that building!"

Reiner kept his eyes narrowed, pointing his finger directly at Ymir. "We'll talk about this later." He said sternly before turning over to Christa.

"Bertholdt, the Vine." Reiner supported Christa's back, having her sit up as Bertholdt stood at the ready to apply the alcohol.

"Reiner, what happened to her?" Ymir asked with a worried tone, nearly falling over as Connie and Sasha got on either end to support her.

Before Reiner could answer, Christa tilted her head and gave Ymir a smile before answering her question. "My leg just got hurt really bad...I'll be fine though. Reiner and Bertholdt have been a great help."

Christa mentioned the two helping her in an effort to ease the tension between Ymir and Reiner, but to no avail.

"Careful with that Vine...I'll kill ya if she feels unneeded pain." Ymir gave them a face that sent shivers down Connie and Sasha's spines, but Reiner and Bertholdt paid no attention to her warning, and continued to focus on Christa.

Reiner could give less of a shit about Ymir and the fact that she was the Titan who ate his friend. Christa was top priority right now and if Ymir got in the way, her Titan form wouldn't be the only thing surprising people today.

"I don't see any Titans around this area anymore!" Connie noticed, looking around in surprise.

"I killed all of them." Ymir said, Connie looking at her in disbelief.

"Ymir...there were at least sixty of them!" Connie shook his head.

"It explains why she's so worn out though." Bertholdt said, earning a glare from Ymir.

"Bert, get ready." Bertholdt looked at Christa's leg, about to pour the Vine all over the wound while Reiner took Christa's hand into his.

"Christa, if you need another way to drown out the pain besides holding my hand tight, you can bite into it." Christa gripped his hand tightly, tears forming in her eyes.

"R-Reiner...I can't possibly do that-!"

"I'll be fine, Christa." Reiner gave her a soft smile, one so kind-hearted and different from the stern expression he usually wore, that Christa couldn't help but blush. She didn't respond with words, only a small nod as she tensed up, bracing herself for the pain to come.

Ymir got beside her, grasping her left hand and giving her a small nod. Connie and Sasha stood beside each other, keeping an eye out for any Titans that may just happen to notice them. They eyed each other for a moment, the expressions on their faces showing worry for Christa and at the same time, how they didn't want to see their friend in such pain.

"Alright Bert, do it." Bertholdt let the Vine pour all over her leg, Christa letting out a sharp cry in pain. She only lasted a few seconds before biting into Reiner's hand with such force that he flinched.

Christa curled her toes inside her boots as she sunk her teeth deep into Reiner's hand, closing her eyes tightly.

"Just hold out a little longer Christa, everything's gonna be alright." Ymir assured, feeling Christa tighten the grip on her hand. Both Ymir and Reiner kept their eyes locked on her as she let out muffled cries, tears streaming down her reddened cheeks.

"That's all the Vine." Bertholdt said, reaching over to Reiner's leg and taking the ripped off piece of his sleeve.

"Sasha, can you lift her leg up?' Bertholdt requested to the now attentive girl.

"Y-yeah." She knelt down besides Christa's right foot, placing both hands on the heel of the boot.

"Lift." Sasha gently lifted up, Christa tensing up again as Bertholdt wrapped the sleeve around the wound slowly and carefully before tying it securely.

"Good job, Bert." Reiner gave him a nod, sweat pouring down his face. Bert didn't reply back, his emotionless expression making Reiner feel uneasy.

"Christa, are you alright?" Ymir asked.

"I-I'm fine, Ymir. It just hurts a bit that's all..." It was then that Christa tasted copper in her mouth. She looked at the hand she had bitten into, letting out a gasp.

"R-Reiner...I'm so sorry..." Reiner looked down at her, noticing his hand was covered in blood.

"It's fine, Christa." Reiner assured, noticing his blood staining her teeth.

"Guys, we need to get to the Commander as soon as possible, we can't afford to waste more time." Connie stated.

"Connie's right, let's move while this place is still secure." Reiner looked over to the building Irvin had shot the flare in.

"Alright, everyone listen up. The building isn't too far from here, but the only ones with maneuver gear are Sasha and Connie. Which means, I need you two to kill any Titans that come between us and our destination."

Sasha and Connie nodded. "Ymir, since you're still recovering, I need you to let Bert carry you." Ymir wanted to object, but she knew her situation and reluctantly nodded, still focusing her eyes on Christa.

"I'm guessing you're gonna carry her then?"

"Yeah, I am." Reiner responded. "Is everyone ready?"

Bertholdt knelt down, letting Ymir get onto his back while Reiner gently took Christa up into his arms.

"Ready."

"Alright then, let's move."

The group of six began to advance towards their destination, Connie and Sasha checking corners to buildings up front, giving the all-clear or waiting for a Titan to pass by before continuing their advance.

"Hey Sasha."

"Hm?" She looked at him, noticing the hint of red in his cheeks.

"I'm taking you out to dinner when we get home. It'll be one of those nice places that serves the meat you love." Sasha's eyes beamed in excitement, letting herself drool over the thoughts of tender meat served with a jug of cold milk to wash it down.

"Uh...Sasha?" She quickly came back to reality, seeing everyone staring at her. She quickly wiped the drool away and turned her back towards them.

"Ahem, let's keep going." Sasha began to walk forward, eyeing Connie who got up beside her.

"Thank you so much Connie..." She whispered, giving him a warm smile that made him feel as though his face was about to explode from how adorable she looked.

"D-Don't mention it...heh." He scratched the back of his head as Reiner looked down at Christa, wondering if she knew what was going on between the two.

Connie suddenly spotted a lone Titan shifting its body from building to building in search for food. Unfortunately for the group, it was in their way.

"I'm gonna take care of it. Sasha, you back me up. Everyone else stay here." Connie shot his hooks out and into the Titan's neck, propelling himself forward as fast as possible to dispose of the minor inconvenience.

Sasha came out of the alleyway and into the middle of the street, not too far away from the Titan as Connie made his move. In an instant, the Titan tilted its head back.

"A deviant?!" Connie questioned before getting grabbed by its hand.

"Connie!" Reiner yelled, setting Christa to the ground and beginning to run towards them.

"C-Connie...?" Sasha stepped forward a little, fear striking her face as Connie's eyes met with hers.

"Sasha!" Connie took his blades and began stabbing at the hand in an attempt to make the bastard release him.

"_I can't die here, I was just getting close with her! Not now, I'm not letting this piece of shit get the best of me! I'm gonna be with her!" _

"Bertholdt, let me down! I need t-"

"Your heartbeat is too slow, Ymir. If you turn again, you'll die." Bert interrupted her.

"Don't act like you know what I'm capable of."

"It doesn't matter, you need to stay alive to explain to Reiner why your Titan form has Berik's left eye." Ymir's eyes widened.

"W-what...?"

"Connie! Hang in there!" Reiner screamed. "Sasha! I'll distract it! You go-" Before he could continue, the Titan took its other hand and grabbed Connie's lower half.

"Gaaaah!" Connie screamed, feeling his bones being crushed more and more as the Titan began to turn both halves of his body in the opposite directions.

"Connie!" Sasha was about to use her maneuver gear to rescue him when she saw the Titan twist his body in two. Connie's eyes were filled with despair, pain, and heartbreak as fresh crimson spilled onto Sasha's face and uniform.

"C-C-Connie...no...no...no no no!" Sasha slowly walked forward, tears streaming down her bloodied face.

Reiner froze in place, staring at his comrade's bisected body. Bertholdt wore a frown while Ymir stood there, mouth agape. Christa covered her mouth, fresh tears falling from her face as thunderous footsteps sounded in their ears.

A group of Titans appeared from all sides, approaching Sasha and Reiner. The Deviant Titan looked down at the shaking girl, its large grin spawning anger within her. Connie's lifeless eyes still were still locked on Sasha who was unable to look away from his desolate gaze.

Her eyes slowly beginning to narrow, tightening the grip on her hilts. Her heart was beating fast and her blood began to boil. She took a stance, her quivering fingers pressed lightly against the wire-triggers.

"I'm gonna kill you all." Reiner's eyes shot open, his head slowly turning towards Sasha who gritted her teeth. What used to be a happy, innocent pair of glistening yellow eyes that kept her friends strong through the terror they faced daily, was now nothing but rage-filled hatred that could not be satisfied until Connie's killer-...no, not until every Titan was left steaming on the ground.

"I'll kill every last one of you! You're all dead!" Sasha let out a blood-curling scream, pressing the triggers and sending wires out to the nearest Titan who was now in front of Connie's killer. Her mind was filled with nothing but pain; aching pain from the loss of who may have soon been her lover, aching pain because she couldn't prevent his death, aching pain because she couldn't go back in time so he would still be alive.

This pain soon turned to the rage that had formed the expression on her face.

The only thing she could do now was let herself turn into what would soon be a killing machine hell-bent on eradicating any flesh-eating behemoth that gets in her way. Her revenge will be sought out until Connie's death is paid in full.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the late update guys, been working on this long-ass chapter, the longest I've ever written haha.**

**Credits to Salaeren for being an excellent beta-reader and a very helpful resource with this story. **

**Also, ****The cover photo for this fanfiction is now complete and is the illustrated version of the ending scene of chapter 4. You'll find the link for the full picture on my profile page. It'll be right at the top ^^! I take no credit for the picture. The artist, Lintankleen, did a fantastic job and I can't thank her enough for the hard work she has put into this wonderful cover photo!**

**Reviews are always welcome and please tell me what you think of this chapter. I know a lot of shit went down. Likes? Dislikes? Also, what do you think of Ymir's new Titan design? I never liked her Titan design in the manga so I wanted to change it up a bit and make it more like a Titan-Shifter, but still keep the same savage traits she possesses in that form. **

**Have a great day/night fellow Legionnaires, and until next time!**

**-Prima. **


	6. The Defeated

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**A/N PLEASE READ: I promise you guys that there is Annie and Eren in this chapter! I would consider it a whole separate chapter actually. I just wanted to apologize for the late update and hope that the last part of this chapter will make up for it. I would like to thank Salaeren for his excellent beta-reading and advice. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and that it was worth the long wait ^^! **

**-Prima**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Defeated**

"Thank you, Mike." Irvin passed the flare gun back to his longtime friend, the green smoke now ascending to the sky above for anyone still alive to see.

"Hopefully the casualties aren't as bad as we think." Mike said, looking out for any signs of life from the shattered window he stood by.

Irvin narrowed his eyes. "I hope you're right."

"Hold still!" Hanji yelled in annoyance, causing Mike and Irvin to look over at her.

"I would if you weren't so careless." Levi retorted. Hanji furrowed her brows, retightening the splint on his arm roughly. He gritted his teeth in discomfort and glared at the impatient woman.

"Hanji, I would prefer it if you didn't worsen that fracture." Irvin advised while taking a knee beside the two. Hanji looked up at the commander with a smile, a fake one that did well to hide the ecstasy she was feeling. She tightened the splint just a little more, and Levi winced.

"Don't worry, Irvin. He'll be healed in no time, I'll make sure of it!" Hanji reassured with an enthusiastic tone. Her tone was laced with the usual creepiness, the let's-have-fun-with-science kind that had brought her fame.

"Scary woman…" Mike said to himself.

"What was that?" Hanji looked over, her glasses glinted with a smile of interest spread across her face.

Mike inhaled the scent of the air before responding, "I said the air smells rather nice, today."

"Ah, yes...if you find the smell of Titans appealing." She was right, it smelled like shit, though he didn't find it appealing in the least. Mike placed his hands on the window sill, his eyes surveying the village below. The streets were littered with various body-parts of deceased Legionnaires, their entrails sprawled out along the dirt-paved walkways. Blood stained the abrasive wood of collapsed housing and the pallets of brick stacked with mortar that still stood through the destruction.

There wasn't a street in sight that wasn't occupied with either the bones of recently deceased Titans or the remnants of what used to be his comrades. He was glad the stench of blood and Titan-flesh filled his nostrils, so he wouldn't have to recognize the individual scents of people he may have known.

"I'm glad you made it, Levi." Irvin admitted, taking a seat and leaning back beside the Lance-Corporal who continued to stare into space as Hanji carefully finished her readjustments on the splint. Irvin looked at him with a pained expression. "I'm sorry about your squad, they were all good men."

Levi never showed a change of expression, his eyes fixed on the ceiling of the building. Irvin turned his head away and closed his eyes, resting his head on the wooden wall supporting them.

"I haven't seen you do that move in a while." Levi stated. Irvin blinked a couple of times, thinking of what he was talking about before remembering the Titan he killed prior to their arrival. "Ah, yes that's true. The last time I did that move in the field was before I was even Commander of the Legion, back when Keith Shadis was in charge."

"The drill instructor for the 104th used to be the commander, but he resigned from his position due to the amount of casualties after the 42nd expedition outside of Wall Maria, right?" Hanji chimed in.

"Correct." Irvin replied. "I was chosen since I was his second in command at the time and had more experience than the others. Then I find Levi, the leader of a gang in the Yalkell District of Wall Sina, stealing from the rich."

Hanji let out a laugh at hearing this. Levi focused on the floorboards in front of him as Irvin brought up the spinning move again. "I remember when I first taught you that; it was a few weeks after I got you to join the Legion."

"It's been a long time since then." Levi added before taking notice to the fluttering eyes of a slowly awakening Mikasa.

"She's awake." He informed Irvin who pressed a hand onto his knee, helping himself up to walk over to Mikasa who was surveying her surroundings.

"W-where am I?" She questioned.

"In a safe place." Irvin assured.

"Where's Eren?" She immediately asked, her eyes widened with fear for his safety and whereabouts.

Irvin closed his eyes before responding, "You were wounded badly and Levi chose to tend to you rather than continue chasing the female Titan. He wouldn't have been able to take it on alone, she was just too dangerous."

"We left Eren behind!" Mikasa yelled, taking a step forward towards Irvin only to wince in pain.

"Take it easy, there's nothing we can do about it now. We're not in the best of situations, Ackerman." Irvin motioned his hand towards the window besides Mike. Mikasa could see the smoke rising from buildings within her view. "I've lost too many men on this expedition, I have to consider Eren a loss and focus on getting any left alive out of here."

"Then I'll get Eren back myself!" Mikasa made her way toward the closed door to her right only to be met with Levi who blocked her way.

"I did not risk losing my arm so you could go searching for a dead man. You've put on a tough face, but that wound is gonna tear itself open as soon as you use your gear." Mikasa clenched her fist, her other hand pressed against her aching wound.

He was right and she knew it. She was as good as dead if she tried to move her body with the maneuver gear to either get to where she needed to be or kill a Titan.

"I know it isn't easy, Ackerman, but I've lost more men on this expedition than I ever have in my time as Commander of the Legion. I do not wish to lose another." Irvin averted his eyes from her astonished gaze. He tasted the shame of those words, knowing that with one decision, the members of his Legion had been sent to the meatgrinder.

Mikasa lowered her head. She wanted to say no, to push that know-it-all Corporal out of the way and rescue Eren, but she knew he was long gone, and that her wounds would prevent her from getting far. "Yes sir…"

Irvin gave a sigh of relief to her coming to terms with the situation. "Thank you, Ackerman."

* * *

"Armin! Look out!"

"Gah!" Armin felt his body get swatted, his back smashing against a nearby wall.

"Shit!" Jean cursed, watching as Armin's attacker retracted its hand from the side of the house it came through. "Armin, are you alright?!"

Armin slowly raised himself up, blood trickling down his forehead. His body felt like mush, but he that they had to keep moving. "I'll be fine...we need to get out of here!"

"Quick, through that window!" Jean pointed. The Titan swiped his hand through the house, the whole wall crumbling down. "Armin! Hurry!"

Armin began to run, feeling as though he was about to puke up his insides. It didn't help that he felt like he was wearing a ball and chain around his ankle that weighed him down.

Jean shot his wires out through the window, the hooks piercing through the bloodied ceramic tiles of a nearby rooftop. Armin was almost there, the wall falling behind him from the pursuing hand. Jean began to run before activating the gas mechanism of his maneuver gear, sending him feet first through the window and to his desired destination.

Armin followed suit, firing his hooks right beside where Jean landed before propelling himself through the window just in time, for the Titan swiped its hand out the side of the house where he just was.

"Phew, that was a close one!" Jean exclaimed, running his grimy fingers through his messy, wet hair.

"Y-yeah…" Armin panted heavily, sweat pouring down his face. Jean took notice of the blood that was now dripping off of Armin's chin.

"Oi, Armin. Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Armin responded, wiping the blood of his face with his cloak and smearing it all over the fabric. Jean looked to see the Titan slowly approaching them, longing for their flesh.

"Alright, we need to move." Armin nodded to his remark. Suddenly, he spotted a green flare rising up in the distance from the center of the village.

"There's someone over there!"

"What're we waiting for? Let's go!" Jean shot his hooks out to a nearby building that was larger than the one they stood on before propelling himself forward, Armin right behind him. They flew from building to building, getting significantly closer to their destination each time. Jean noticed a group of Titans right beside the next building they were propelling to.

"Careful Armin, we're gonna cut it close!" Armin nodded, tightening the grip on his hilts as they made contact with the buildings. Titans instantly reached out for them, their gaping mouths eagerly awaiting a new meal.

"The building's right there! Go!" Jean yelled, slicing his blades across a nearby Titan's nape, his hooks piercing the highest window in the desired building in front of them.

"Armin! Look out!" The blonde turned around to see a Titan about to grab him. He tensed up as Jean continued to scream for him to move. If he moved, however, there was a much higher chance of him getting caught, but if he killed it right now then he could easily get to where Jean was awaiting him.

"_I have to kill it, even though I've never killed one before. If not...I'll die." _Armin shot his hooks into a building across the street, propelling himself to it. The Titan started to slowly turn to get him. Armin retracted his hooks midway before shooting them out to an area of the roof that was right beside the slowly-turning Titan's nape. Armin felt his heart stop, knowing this was his chance.

"_NOW!" _Armin propelled himself forward, both his blades held tightly on his right side as he sent them deep across the Titan's nape. Before Armin had time to celebrate his first kill, he realized he was going to fast and hit the rooftop hard.

"Armin!" Jean yelled out, ready to go back for him. Armin slowly got up, all the other Titans approaching the building he stood on. Realizing his maneuver gear was now broken, he began to run across the rooftop, his heart beating faster than ever before.

"Kirschstein!" Jean heard his name called, looking up to see the commander leaning outside the window.

"Commander!"

"Get inside, I'll make sure Arlert gets here safely!" He assured, placing his feet on the windowsill and bending his knees. "Mike, save Arlert!"

In an instant, Mike had jumped out the window and shot his hooks out onto the nape of the nearest Titan trying to eat Armin, who was now beginning to slow down.

"Hanji! Give me a canister and a pistol!" Jean focused his eyes back on the commander who was leaning into the building to acquire the requested items.

"C-commander?!"

"I told you to get inside." Irvin reminded, tossing the gas canister out the window and watching it fall towards the group of Titans below.

"Oh shit!" Jean, now realizing what Irvin was doing, climbed up into the window and tumbled onto the floorboards within. Irvin readied the pistol in his right hand. He was sure he could stop most of the group in its tracks, giving Mike enough time to kill a few and rescue Armin who was now on his knees.

"Arlert!" Mike yelled, slicing his blades across the nape of a Titan about to grab him. He shot one hook out to another Titan closing it, swinging around to the back of its nape before stabbing his blades deep within its flesh, swiping it across quickly. The Titan fell over with ease as Mike went for another one.

"_Damn, all these Titans are too close, I won't be able to pull him out like this." _Mike slashed his blades across the nape of his newest prey, the steaming crimson painting his cloak for a moment before disappearing. He let his blades drop, the dulled steel colliding onto the ground below. He then went to equip a new pair of blades, noticing a pair of 10-meters trying to get Armin who was practically dragging himself across the roof.

It was then that the canister exploded, blowing off the legs to most of the Titans. Mike made eye contact with Irvin, who gave him a quick nod. Mike gave a nod back before sending his hooks out onto the two 10-meters in front of him, cutting through their napes in quick succession of one another. Mike took this chance to grab Armin and get back into the building.

Irvin moved out of the way as Mike flew through the window, safely landing on his feet with Armin who he set down against the wall.

"Armin!" Mikasa yelled as she knelt down beside him, putting both hands on his shoulders.

"Hey Mikasa…" Armin said with a smile, his eyes half-closed. Hanji came up from the other side, observing Armin's face and his speech as Mikasa talked to him.

"Irvin, I'm gonna take care of those Titans you blew up before they regenerate their legs." Mike said to Irvin, getting up onto the window sill.

"Be careful, Mike." He looked back at Irvin with a smile before jumping out the window, blades at the ready.

"Armin, how're you feeling?" Mikasa asked worriedly.

Armin made a delayed response. "My leg hurts...and there's this ringing in my ears…"

"Armin, can you see my face clearly?" Hanji asked, her face uncomfortably close to his.

"It's a bit blurry…" Hanji pushed up her glasses and let out a deep sigh at his response.

"What about your leg?"

"I busted it on the roof." Armin replied, his eyes focused on his left leg. He could still feel a burning sensation that kept him tense.

"Oi, is he alright?" Jean came up beside them and crossed his arms, his eyes moving to the side to look at Mikasa who held Armin's hand to comfort him.

"He has a concussion." Hanji stated, helping herself up. "Do you know what could've caused it?"

"Yeah, a Titan hit him into a wall. He must've smacked the back of his head off of it." Jean looked down at Armin while scratching the back of his head and letting out a sigh.

"He should be fine, as long as we get him medical attention soon." Hanji walked back over to Levi who had been sitting by the doorway, paying no attention to anyone else in the building. He looked to be focused on something else entirely, but his stare towards the floorboards was blank.

"_He must be deep in thought." _Hanji sat down beside him and turned her head towards him. Levi didn't bother to meet her gaze, even when she brought her face uncomfortably close to his. It would've been completely silent, if not for the conversation going on between Mikasa, Jean, and a half-conscious Armin. However, there was a silence between the two squad leaders, a silence that continued for a while until Levi began to get irritated by Hanji's disturbingly focused eyes on him.

"What is it?" He finally spoke, but not before narrowing his eyes in annoyance.

"Just checking to see if you're alright." The Corporal nearly choked on his own saliva.

"Did the real Hanji get eaten?" He asked in disbelief.

"If she did then she's probably researching the insides of a Titan's stomach." Hanji spoke in third-person.

"Yeah, until the acid begins to dissolve your skin." Levi looked over, seeing Hanji with her hands clasped together, her starry eyes focused on the ceiling while drool fell from her half-parted mouth. She was definitely fantasizing about being in a Titan's stomach now.

"I can only imagine the kinds of thing in a Titan stomach! I've never been able to see the inside of one before because of how quickly the fat regenerates! I've always wanted to see how those balls of puke are formed within! It has to have a different way of forming the puke since it's been proven to preserve human bodies for extremely long periods of time and-" Levi shook his head, drowning her rambling voice out with his own thoughts.

Mike brought his blades along the last Titan in the vicinity and shot his hooks out beside the window to meet back with Irvin.

"Excellent job, Mike." Irvin patted his shoulder as he climbed into the window and sat beside him.

"If I had more blades then I would perform clean-up duty, but I'm on my last two pairs." Mike remarked, letting his pair of dulled blades fall to the ground below.

"Looks like the Titans want us to perform clean-up duty." Irvin observed. Mike raised a brow before turning his head to where Irvin was looking. It was then that he noticed a group of at-least forty Titans approaching the street directly in front of their temporary sanctuary.

"If we can get them all to stay in this one area, we can dispose of them easily with the gas canisters and finish them off with our blades."

"This will clear a path for any survivors who have had trouble reaching the green smoke, and then we can get out of this damned village." Mike added.

"It's settled then?"

Mike took his operating devices and equipped them with the new pair of blades in either sheath.

"Let's do it."

* * *

"Graaaaaah!" Sasha screamed, the whole of her blades deep with the Titan's nape as she brought it out the other side. The Titan fell over with a loud thud that nearly threw Reiner off balance due to how close it was.

Sasha immediately sent her pair of hooks into the nape of another Titan and propelled herself forward, fresh tears flying from her eyes only to be swept away by the wind forcing against her. Suddenly, the Titan lifted its hand up to grab her.

"Sasha!" Reiner yelled. She took notice of the approaching hand and readied her blades. She didn't feel fear at the possibility that she would be crushed, because she wouldn't allow it. She was going to counter the hand and go straight for the nape. She was going to get to the Titan that killed Connie and slice it to pieces. Fear was an emotion she couldn't afford to let take her. All that fueled her was the undying rage.

The hand tried taking her, but to no avail. Sasha used all the strength she could muster and let out a yell, her blades slicing the hand in half. Sasha didn't stop to marvel at what she had accomplished, and instead reeled herself in to the nape of the Titan. Her blades made a rough, yet deep cut through the nerve cluster, the Titan falling onto the ground in defeat.

Her blades were covered with steaming blood and were too bent to cause any more damage. She quickly disconnected the blades from the operating devices and onto the steaming corpse below, before equipping another pair of blades to do further damage to the approaching group of Titans.

There were seven of them including the Deviant that killed Connie. She knew she was the only one with blades, so she had to make the two pairs she had left count. The first victim was a 10-meter that attempted to grab her in its jaws. She didn't let him, firing her hooks to the side of its neck and propelling herself forward. She reached the side of the neck and quickly moved her hips while reeling in to reach the nape. She then swiped her blades across the nape quickly, the Titan falling in quick succession.

Reiner wanted to get Connie's maneuver gear and help Sasha, but both halves were still in the clutches of the Deviant. All Reiner could do was hope Sasha could kill all the Titans in time. If she wasn't able to however, then he would have no choice. He wasn't going to let any more of his friends die today. He looked over to where Christa and the others were and ran over to them while the Titans were distracted by Sasha, who had now downed two more Titans in her killing spree.

"Bert, I need you to carry Christa for me. Ymir, walk at your own pace. Just get to the flare and keep Ymir's ability secret, do you understand me?" Reiner meant this mostly to Christa who nodded. Reiner gave her a smile before looking at Bertholdt.

"What're you doing?" Bertholdt questioned.

"I'm gonna make sure she avenges Connie." Reiner replied with his usual expression while putting a large hand on his shoulder. "Keep them safe, Bert."

He didn't respond, tilting his head away from Reiner and facing the petite blonde sitting down beside them. "C'mon Christa."

He picked her up into his arms and began to travel to where the green flare was fired. Ymir started to trail behind them before stopping to look at Reiner for a moment.

"What is it, Ymir?" Reiner studied her expression. It seemed like she wanted to tell him something, but was hesitant to do so.

"I…I'll tell you my secrets when this is all over...as long as you tell me yours." Reiner raised his brows in surprise. He didn't get a chance to respond as she left to follow Bertholdt and Christa. Reiner closed his eyes for a moment before running back out into the street to see another Titan collide with the ground. He looked to see Sasha had killed five Titans already and was on her last pair of blades.

"_She doesn't even need my help."_ Reiner kept his attention on the Deviant, who was approaching Sasha while her blades made contact with the nerve cluster of the sixth Titan.

"Hey! You big ugly bastard, come over here!" Reiner attempted to distract the Deviant, but to no avail as it dropped the lower half of Connie's body to make a grab for Sasha, who had just fired her hooks into its throat. Sasha dodged the sudden action and landed on its arm.

"_I'm gonna kill you! I won't let you eat me! You're gonna pay for taking him away from me! I'll make you pay!" _Sasha ran as fast as she could along the arm, getting to its bicep before propelling herself to the throat. When she arrived, she retracted her hooks and fired one into the side of its neck so she could swing around to the nape.

The Deviant suddenly raised its hand up in a last ditch effort to save itself from certain death. Sasha's eyes met with Connie's for one last time. She couldn't avoid the hand. She had to cut through it...she had to cut through Connie. Sasha braced herself, tensing up and bringing her blades in front of her. Tears fell from her face and her heart beat fast.

"Forgive me, Connie!" Sasha screamed out loud as the Deviant threw its hand towards her. She cut through Connie's body like tissue paper, the left blade going through his shoulder and out the other side of his waist while the right blade cut off his arm and went through his head at an angle. Her blades met the flesh of the Deviant and began to bend as she cut through the entire hand, forcing herself out the other side.

Her body was covered in blood; the blood of her best friend; the blood of someone who always stood by her and tried to help her as best as he could; the blood of someone she could've grown to love, but now never could for fate was so unkind. She let out a scream of despair and rage as she fired her hooks into the nape of the Deviant, her fingers pressed as tightly as possible against the gas-triggers as she propelled herself forward.

Her blades came in contact with the nape in a stabbing motion, only to bend in opposite directions. Sasha didn't give up, beginning to smash the blades into the nape so they could shatter. The remaining piece of the blades connected to the hilt were more than enough to continue the Deviant's demise. She began stabbing away at the nape as its hand slowly regenerated.

"C'mon Sasha!" Reiner cheered her on, bringing a hand up to his mouth just in case. The skin on the nape was giving way, steam emitting instantly. Sasha continued the act until she was down to one shattered blade, keeping both hands tightly on the hilt as she stabbed her way to the nerve cluster. Sweat poured down every inch of her body while the blood had soaked through her uniform.

"JUST!" The blade made contact with the nerve cluster.

"FUCKING!" The blade made its way through the center.

"DIE!" She sliced the blade across with the last of her strength, killing the Deviant and sending it falling over to the ground. Reiner let the hand fall to his side, making his way over to the thick cloud of steam that had spread through the street.

"Sasha! Are you alright?!" Reiner jumped onto the Deviant's arm, running up to the shoulder to see Sasha, her hands still gripping the shattered blade temporarily stuck in the deteriorating flesh. She was nearly unrecognizable, her entire form soaked in the blood of her avenged friend. Her rage subsided, though now she felt broken. She fulfilled her self-appointed mission to take action against the Deviant and any Titan that stood in her way, but in the end there was nothing that would bring Connie back.

She began to choke back tears and shake uncontrollably. "Sasha…" Reiner continued to approach her, but stopped in surprise as she tilted her head up at the sky, releasing a cry that pierced the heavens. Reiner decided it would be better for her to let it all out while he went to equip himself with Connie's gear. He turned around and jumped off of the Titan and onto the ground. He knew the body was decomposing slowly, and there was so much steam that it was impossible for any Titans to see them. He was worried they would hear Sasha, but he was certain that he would acquire the gear before the situation worsened.

Reiner kneeled beside the lower-half of his deceased friend. He never got to know the other boy all too well, but treated him with the same respect everyone in the group deserved. "I'm sorry, Connie. You wanted to join the Military Police instead of the Legion, and I'm sure there were people who may have scoffed at that. But you had more balls than any of those pricks behind the Walls ever could for making this choice, for coming this far. We're going to keep fighting, so keep an eye out for us, alright?"

Reiner offered a salute to the remains before taking the gear and equipping it on himself. He took inventory; there was plenty of gas, blades, and a pair of operating devices to boot. All the gear was intact, surprisingly, and now he had a fighting chance. He ran back over to Sasha who had jumped down from the Deviant who was now nothing but bones.

"Sasha, we need to move." She didn't respond, her head sunken low. Reiner took this chance to grab her by the shoulders. "Listen to me, Sasha, we need to get back to the others before any more Titans show up, do you understand?"

The blood had begun to dry on her clothing and face. Her hair was soaked; it was going to take a lot of scrubbing to clean both that and her uniform. She'll probably have to get a new one now. She still didn't respond. She obviously wasn't in the best of moods right now, Reiner knew that, but she couldn't stand here and sulk about it.

"Sasha!" Reiner shook her and she looked up with eyes filled with anger. Out of nowhere, a succession of large explosions appeared from the left, where the green flare was fired. Reiner loosened his grip, and turned to face the sudden event. Sasha took this chance while he was distracted, taking her hilts and pushing them into Reiner's sheaths, equipping a pair of blades quickly.

"Oi! What're you-" Before he could finish, Sasha drove her foot into his chest and immediately sent her hooks into the building behind him, propelling herself forward.

"Sasha, stop! Shit!"

Reiner began to pursue Sasha while she changed directions and flew down the street where the explosions had occurred. _"She's lost it," _Reiner thought.

"Sasha! Wait! You can't kill them all on your own!" Reiner yelled. The enraged girl didn't stop, continuing to fly from rooftop to rooftop and getting closer to her destination. She met a few Titans along the way and dispatched them with ease.

Reiner took out any that tried to get her from behind, continuing to yell for her to stop, but to no avail. She finally reached the edge of a building right across from where a horde of Titans were, only to see an explosion flash before her eyes, knocking her off her feet and sending her into Reiner.

* * *

"Mike! Cover them!" Irvin yelled, throwing another canister down below before shooting it with a pistol passed to him by Levi. Mike noticed the trio of Legionnaires on the ground and flew over to them, but not before slicing a few napes along the way. Fire and steam filled the whole area surrounding the building, giving enough cover for Mike to safely land beside whom he now knew were Bertholdt, Christa, and Ymir.

"Glad to see you guys are safe, is there anyone else alive?" Mike asked as another explosion went off behind him.

"Reiner and Sasha should arrive soon, nobody else made it." Bertholdt replied. Mike let out a sigh and looked up at the window, seeing Irvin toss another canister onto the group of Titans below.

"Alright, since none of you have your gear, I'll have to fly you up one at a time."

"Christa should be first." Ymir immediately suggested. Bertholdt placed the wounded Christa into Mike's arms who nodded in return.

"Hold on tight!" Mike sent his hooks beside the window and propelled himself up beside Irvin. "Delivery!"

"Christa!" Jean exclaimed in both surprise and relief. Mikasa and Armin looked over as well, happy to see she was alive.

"Grab her for me, would ya?" Jean abided his request, taking Christa from Mike's arms.

"Careful, her leg got hurt really bad." Mike warned before flying out again for the others.

"You alright, Christa?" Jean asked, gently setting her down beside Armin.

"I'll be fine, it just stings is all." Jean knew she was lying. Her expression showed that she was feeling a lot more pain in that leg than she wanted to admit. She was always trying hard not to make people worry about her. She was a physically weak girl, but her heart was strong.

Christa took notice of Armin who gave her a soft smile with half-closed eyes. "Hey Christa…"

"Armin! Are you alright?" Christa asked worryingly.

"I'll be fine, I just need some rest-" "Armin! You can't go to sleep, I told you this!" Jean interrupted, kneeling down and taking the barely conscious boy by the shoulders.

"It's getting hard to stay awake, Jean…"

"Don't worry, once we get you back to the walls, we're gonna have you checked out and then you can get a good sleep." Jean patted Armin's shoulder and took a look at Christa's leg.

"Squad Leader Hanji, is there anything you can do to treat that wound?" Jean asked the approaching woman pushing up her glasses.

"She definitely needs a better bandage than a shirt sleeve." She took off her cloak and knelt down beside her. "I'm going to replace that sleeve with my cloak. I'll be as gentle as possible, I promise."

Hanji's reassuring smile set Christa at ease. She nodded before Hanji went ahead and untied the sleeve. The timid blonde winced in pain while Hanji let the blood-soaked piece of Reiner's shirt fall to the floor, immediately wrapping the cloak tightly around Christa's leg.

"Looks much better!" Hanji stood up, quickly turning to face the direction behind her, watching Mike fly in with Ymir held in one arm.

"Thanks." Mike gave the expressionless Titan-Shifter a nod before going back down to retrieve Bertholdt, who awaited patiently behind the building.

"Christa, how're you feeling?"

"You guys worry too much, I'm fine I promise." Christa titled her head with closed eyes, her warm smile causing Ymir's cheeks to redden.

"_She's so damn cute!"_

"Ymir?"

The Shifter quickly let out a laugh in an attempt to hide her blush while wrapping an arm around Christa. Mike flew in with Bertholdt, the two of them passing by Hanji and landing beside the commander.

"Irvin, did you see them?"

"Yeah, I did." Irvin responded to Mike, the two of them observing Sasha and Reiner as they both slowly got up to face the plethora of Titans surrounding them. Irvin turned to face the survivors behind him.

"Everyone," He began. "Now's our chance! All of you who still have maneuver gear will join Mike and clear out all the Titans below! Me and the others will provide you support from here. I want no one else dying today! All of us shall return home safely!"

The Legionnaires nodded in agreement and gave Irvin a proud salute. "Alright then, anyone with gear step up."

Hanji and Jean stepped in front of him with Mike patting Irvin's shoulder from behind. "Just the three of you, eh? We have two more of our own out there, so that makes five. Let's get to it."

Mike, Hanji, and Jean approached the window and waited for Irvin's command, watching as Reiner cut down three Titans in seconds while Sasha ended the lives of four.

"Looks like they don't even need us." Jean observed. Irvin counted the gas canisters: seven left. He knew that there were more than enough pistols for the job as he checked the bag. He sat in the window, taking a gas canister up to his chest while holding a pistol in his right hand.

"Kill them all!" Irvin ordered. The trio leaped from the window, their hooks attaching to various Titans below with blades at the ready.

"Levi!"

"What is it?" Levi walked over to Irvin and eyed him while he got ready to drop the first canister.

"If I don't make it out of here…" Levi's eyes widened a split second before returning to their normal carefree look. "I want you to go into my quarters, take out the red book with the golden spine that's hidden on the bottom left shelf. If you go to page 284, you will find a silver key. You will use that to open the third drawer on the right. Can you remember all that?"

Levi gave him a slow nod. "What exactly is in there?"

"Stuff I cannot say aloud. Please, trust me on this." The commander, pleading Levi to trust him? This was unheard of. Levi had known the commander for a long time, and trusted him with his life. It wasn't like him to share secrets though, unless it was of the utmost importance.

"I understand."

"Good, though hopefully it won't come to that." Irvin looked away from the Corporal, dropping the canister to the ground below and aiming the pistol. He pulled the trigger, allowing the canister to explode into flames that engulfed a large group of Titans, taking their legs away for a short period of time.

"Yahooooo~!" Hanji sliced the nape of another Titan, the large 15-meter smashing its face into the roof before it. Mike and Jean focused on the Titans whose legs were just blown off, dispatching them with ease. Irvin watched as more and more Titans poured into the village.

"We need to cut a path out of here, we won't be able to kill them all." Levi stated.

"I know...we just need to hold out a little longer. Once we take care of this group, we'll head out." Irvin readied another canister. Jean and Mike finished executing the Legless Titans before joining Reiner as he cut down a few more. Hanji met up with Sasha, both of them killing more than eight Titans together.

"Good job, Sasha!" Hanji said ecstatically. Sasha didn't respond for she was too focused on the enemy at hand. She took down another, her blades beginning to bend. She took down another, and another, and another, using all of her strength in each kill, her blades ready to shatter.

"Sasha!" The grin that Hanji had worn during this slaughter had faded. "Let me give you a pair of my blades! Yours are about to break!"

Sasha didn't listen, her blades slicing deep within the nape of her prey. Hanji shot her hooks out to the building they were approaching and propelled herself closer to the enraged girl.

"Sasha! Listen, you need t-" Hanji's wire was suddenly grabbed by a Deviant who had been waiting for them in an alleyway, pulling Hanji in. "Shit!"

Sasha's eyes widened while she turned to face the Deviant, quickly activating her gas mechanism to send her flying full speed at Hanji's captor.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" She let out a yell, her blades ready to cut clean through the flesh of its nape. The Deviant took its other hand, grabbing Sasha's wire and sending her crashing down onto the ground, her gear scattered.

"Hanji!" Levi readied his blade as a 15-meter walked past.

"Levi! What are y-" Before Irvin could finish, Levi had jumped onto the nape of the 15-meter with a blade in his able hand. The blade was faced downward as it made its way into the flesh by the brute strength of Levi and his right arm. He dragged the blade all the way across to the other end of its nape and jumped off onto another Titan below.

He didn't bother killing this one, jumping onto the rooftop beside it and making his way towards Hanji and Sasha. Irvin followed suit, both blades at the ready. He had just barely managed to jump onto the slowly falling Titan that had been ended by Levi. He jumped onto the other Titan just as the one he just was on fell face-first onto the ground. He made his way to the rooftop right as Levi made his move.

"_Hanji!" _Levi watched as the Titan slowly brought her up to his wide open mouth, ready to feast upon her flesh. Levi wasn't going to let that happen though, and jumped off the rooftop, keeping the blade over his head, ready to stab the Titan and distract it from the captured squad leader.

Levi was suddenly grabbed by the Deviant's free hand. There was no way to avoid it, and there was no way he was getting out of it. Both him and Hanji were going to die. He could feel the Deviant's grip tightening on his body, beginning to break his splint and eventually cause more pain to pierce through his fractured arm.

"Levi! Hanji!" Irvin yelled after them, about to leap off of the rooftop and onto the Deviant.

"_This is my chance to save all three of them! If I can get around behind it or at-least slice one of its hands off, then they'll have a fighting chance!" _Irvin readied himself to perform the spinning move, his feet leaving the comfortable embrace of the ceramic tiles supporting him as his body was suspended in mid-air for a split moment; a moment that would decide the fate for three of his soldiers, his comrades.

Irvin's messied hair flew back as the wind blew against it. Everything appeared to be in slow-motion as he focused on the hand holding Hanji. He needed to save the one with maneuver gear first, Levi understood this. He twisted his body and spun towards the hand, about to cut it at the wrist and cut it away from the rest of its body.

Something moved in the corner of his eye. He was too focused on the hand to react when the Deviant lunged forward with its gaping mouth. The next thing they knew, Irvin's lower half had fallen beside Sasha. Levi and Hanji stared at the Deviant's mouth, letting the fact sink in that their commander, their friend, had been taken away from them in the blink of an eye.

"Irvin!" Hanji screamed in despair. Levi had stopped struggling, staring down at what remained of Irvin; the man who had recruited him into the ranks of the Legion, the man who had taught him everything, the man who had saved him from the life of crime, and gave him a chance at changing the lives of everyone for the better, was no more.

Sasha was on her knees, staring down at Irvin's lower half, the pool of blood reaching her already blood-stained pants and soaking them again.

"No!" Mike shot past Levi and Hanji, and found themselves falling onto the ground, still in the hands that grasped them which were now extremely light. Mike had cut the hands off of the Deviant. His furrowed brows conveyed the emotions he was feeling as he readied to attack again, to avenge the man he had fought beside for so long.

He wouldn't get the chance, for the Deviant bent down at the knees and did a jump that sent it over a few streets away from him, beginning to flee. "Get back here you fucking bastard!"

Mike was about to shoot his hooks out when he saw the large mass of Titans closing in on their position. He looked back to see the others had finished disposing of the last few flesh-eaters that were surrounding the building. He knew it was suicide to chase the Deviant. He lowered his shaking arms and closed his eyes.

"Dammit all!" He turned to look down at Hanji and Levi who seemed to be alright, both of them surrounding what remained of Irvin. "Everyone! We need to move right now! This is our chance!"

"_If I don't make it out of here...I want you to go into my quarters, take out the red book with the golden spine that's hidden on the bottom left shelf of the bookcase near the door. If you go to page 284, you will find a silver key. You will use that to open the third drawer on the right of my desk." _Levi closed his eyes and clenched his fists, his usual expression void of emotion. He kept what Irvin had said to him in the back of his head.

"Hanji. Sasha. Let's go." Levi pressed a hand to his knee and helped himself up before grabbing Hanji's shoulder. She was tense, her blank stare was all Levi needed to know she was still processing everything that had just happened. "Hanji, c'mon! Let's go."

Levi raised his voice, causing her to come back to reality. She said nothing, her narrowed eyes looking at the ground as she made the hand motion for Levi to get onto her back. Levi did so, and in a flash she had flown away with him, leaving Mike to take Sasha.

Jean and Reiner made sure all the gearless and wounded were out of the building and on foot, except for Christa and Armin. Reiner carried Christa in his arms, running as fast as he could down the street, taking a left down the main road and nearing the grasslands beyond. Jean took Armin on his back, the others following suit behind him and Reiner. Mikasa ran on her own, ignoring the pain that had consumed her whole torso.

They heard the thundering footsteps from the horde of Titans slowly catching up to them. They all passed by the building where Nanaba and Henning were crushed, only for Mike to stop.

"Sasha...can you go on with Mikasa?" She shook her head up and down slowly, not bothering to set eyes on the two deceased Legionnaires she saw die. She did notice Mike was looking at one of them beneath the rubble.

Sasha ran off with Mikasa, both of them hurrying not to fall behind the remaining Legionnaires. Mike began to grab at the rubble, tossing it aside to get to the body he needed to see. Those frail, yet firm arms. Those golden hairs nearly hidden beneath the remains of the housing. He knew who it was, but didn't want to believe it. He was close to pulling out the body, hearing the Titans getting closer and closer as he finally finished.

He gripped one hand of the corpse, its bone sticking out of its forearm. His grip got tighter and tighter while beginning to choke back tears.

"Nanaba...I'm so sorry…" His efforts were no use. Tears fell and collected in his beard, which then let tiny droplets trickle onto her cold, lifeless body. He took in the peaceful expression detailing her face, though after seeing how the majority of her left side was nothing but crushed meat and bones, he couldn't bear to look no longer.

"Nanaba, I have to go now…" The sounds of footsteps grew closer, he couldn't spare any more time. He bent down further, pressing his chapped lips tightly against her hand, inhaling the scent of his lover one last time before catching up to the others.

"I'm not leaving without Connie, where is he?" Jean asked, stopping the rest of the group. Reiner turned his head away from him, Christa doing the same except towards the ground.

"Where is he?!" Jean took a step forward towards them.

"He's dead, Jean."

There was a brief silence between them. "Connie...dead? No...there's no wa-"

"A Deviant caught him by surprise. We couldn't save him in time." Reiner's face showed that he was ashamed of himself, for not being able to save his poor friend. Jean stood there in silence.

"We need to move." Levi chimed in. Jean clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream right here and now, maybe even cry for his friend. He didn't even get to see him one last time. There was no final goodbye, no "I'll see you later". There was no turning back, and he knew there were more pressing matters at hand. He could grieve later, but it would be hard to suppress this sudden realization that his friend was dead.

It was sunset, and the Legion was nearing the gates to the Karanese District. They were all tired, all distraught from the events of today. They were at the home stretch, but would they make it? These thoughts clouded Jean's head as the horde of Titans closed in on their position.

"There's barely any trees around the area! There's no buildings either! We can't fight them like this! Especially when there's only four people who still have gear!"

"No shit, Jean!" Reiner ran as fast as he could, holding Christa tightly in his arms. He didn't know if they were gonna make it in time, but one thing was for sure. If that sun didn't disappear soon, they were gonna be in huge trouble.

"They're approaching fast! We can't run any longer! We need to fight them!" Mike shouted, readying his blades.

"_It's so unfair! We're so close to home! Haven't we already lost enough?! Just let us go!" _Jean shut his eyes tight, his whole body shaking. The footsteps were right next to them. He opened his eyes, seeing Mike shooting his hooks out to the ankle of one Titan, cutting it from behind to make it fall to the ground before slicing through its nape.

Hanji joined Mike in taking down the Titans. Levi and Sasha readied their blades even without the maneuver gear; they were not about to let themselves die for their lack of equipment. Reiner took a stance, staying on standby while Ymir brought her hand to her mouth, anticipating the Titans were going to overrun their position.

They only lasted a few minutes. Hanji and Mike's blades were depleted and the Titans were practically on top of them. The sun was setting below their field of vision; just a few moments more. Everyone huddled in a protective circle. Ymir and Reiner narrowed their eyes, their lips parted and hands at the ready. Levi pushed Hanji behind him and held his blade up on the defensive. Jean got in front of Mike and the others, getting ready to sacrifice himself in an effort to save everyone he could.

A 10-meter lowered its hand down to Jean who brought his blades up and stood ready to lunge. There was no need for that however, for the dying light beyond the mountains disappeared, presenting nothing but darkness around them. As their eyes adjusted to their savior, they could hear the sounds of large bodies tumbling over onto the ground.

"We did it...we made it." Jean said in disbelief with a shaky voice. He fell to his knees and gripped his shoulders tightly. He felt like curling up in a ball and just letting everything out. He felt ashamed, knowing so many people had died on this expedition, yet somehow he made it out alive.

Everyone else let their tension disappear. They were safe now, though most of them still had their hearts pushing hard against their ribcage. Mike was the first to get it back together, knowing it wasn't the time to celebrate their survival.

"C'mon everyone, let's head home." Mike put a hand on Jean's shoulder before walking away with everyone else to the gates of the Karanese District. Jean slowly got up and turned to follow them.

The expedition was done, they were going home…

* * *

As they moved through the gates, the group was met with silence. There were people crowding the dimly-lit street. The expressions on their faces were filled with anticipation, with hope, that their loved ones would be coming through that gate. Levi entered first with Hanji beside him. Their faces held no emotion, though it wasn't much of a surprise for the townsfolk, who never saw them coming home with a face filled with hope and victory. There was just sadness and loss, every time they came back through the gate.

Many of the townsfolk were still piling in. A lot of them were inhabitants of the Trost District, wanting to see what became of their sons and daughters who joined the Legion to avenge the massacre that had occurred there. Mikasa and Sasha came in next. Both pairs of eyes were half-closed, and their mouths shut tight. Their heads were slumped down on their shoulders and they looked to be in deep thought. Mike walked in, Jean trailing behind him with Armin on his back. Jean gritted his teeth and kept his brows slanted inwards. Armin's hair covered his tired face. He struggled to stay awake, which wasn't too hard when he thought about all the casualties of this expedition. Mike kept a stern expression, not letting his emotions get the better of him as they walked down the street.

Reiner came in with Christa in his arms. Reiner's usual stoic expression had been taken away. He was left with regret for the mission's failure, and the loss of his friend. Christa's face was buried in his chest. She didn't want to see the villagers, all expecting their husbands, wives, daughters, and sons to arrive home safely, only for their eyes to leak like faucets and flood the street in tears.

Ymir and Bertholdt were the last to enter. Their faces were like stone, it was like they had no emotion to feel about the whole situation. You couldn't tell if they were just hiding behind a fake mask, or if they genuinely didn't care.

"W-Where's everyone else? Where's the commander?! What happened to Dieter?!" A bystander made his way through the crowd and up to Levi's face. Levi kept quiet for a bit until the man asked again, this time in a more frantic voice.

"We're the only ones who made it." Levi said without pause. He continued walking, leaving the man to stare at the ground in silence while the rest of the survivors followed closely behind. Levi ignored the shocked expressions of those who heard him. Some even tried to make their way to the other side of the gate to see if it was some kind of sick joke, but were stopped by the guards.

Levi continued to make his way through the crowd, only to nearly bump his head off the chest of a rather tall man.

"Corporal Levi!" The man said aloud with a soft smile. He looked like someone, but Levi couldn't figure out who. Before Levi could make his way around him, the man began to speak, as if he were in a hurry.

"My daughter is in your squad. I'm Petra's father." Levi felt his heart drop and he froze in place. Hanji tensed up and gripped Levi's shoulder to support him. There was no way they could get out of this one. "Before I see her, I wanted to talk with you."

Levi remained silent, his eyes widened and his mouth dry. The father reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a letter. "She sent me this letter."

His smile was innocent and warm. Something Levi didn't want to see. It was happiness that would soon turn to nothing but tears and anger. "She said you respected her skills enough to allow her join your squad."

His eyes were closed as he said this, but soon opened, his smile fading a little as he grew serious. "She swore she'd devote herself to you."

He scratched the back of his head before continuing. "Well, I guess she's too starry-eyed to consider her father's feelings!" He exclaimed, letting out a quick chuckle.

"_Father's feelings?" _

"Anyways, as her father, I think it's still too early for her to marry."

And then it hit him. It hit Levi like the cold, super-hardened steel of a blade used to kill his enemy. As if it wasn't hard enough to hide the mixture of feelings he kept inside when staring down at the broken body of that innocent girl, full of life and a future, staring back up at him with lifeless eyes.

"She's still so young, with so much left to experience!"

"_Just shut up." _Levi wanted to say. _"Just leave!"_

"Corporal Levi…?" Levi took notice of the father's eyes observing the remains of the Legion, noticing the absence of his daughter. It took a moment for him to realize that she was nowhere to be found. "Levi, where is my-"

He took one look at Levi's face, finally seeing the pained look in his averted gaze. The older man stared at the Corporal with disbelief, his breathing growing more labored by the minute.

"No...no no no!" The father fell to his knees, tears pouring from his eyes. Levi stood where he was. He could feel Hanji tightening her grip.

"What happened to her?!" He cried out in question, his words barely understandable through his sobs. Levi stayed focus on the street, but to the corner of his eye, he could see the pleading face of a father who wanted to know how she was taken away from him.

Levi curled his fingers in, clenching his hands into fists before speaking. "I saw her die…"

"_No you didn't." _

"It was very quick. There was no pain."

"_She felt her whole body being crushed against a tree." _

"She died with a smile...happy. The way anyone would want to die."

"_She died with the expression of fear, pain, and failure." _

"She spoke often about how she loved her father."

"_She loved you, Levi." _

"And she did not die in vain."

"_It was all for nothing."_

Levi began to walk away, leaving the father to sob as the rest of the Legion walked past him, attempting to ignore the cries for his daughter.

"Levi…?" Hanji put a hand on his other shoulder and he eyed her. She kept her hand there, unable to move as she studied his expression. It was an expression of pain, regret, and shame. She had never seen him like this before...it wasn't him. This wasn't Levi.

"We need to keep moving. We can't stay here." Levi finally spoke, his voice was a little shaky. Hanji nodded and they continued to press forward with the rest of the Legion, ignoring the weeping crowds and angry bystanders who had their precious tax dollars wasted.

* * *

_Out of the 648 men and women who had been serving in the Legion, only 11 survived, making the 57th expedition to reclaim Wall Maria the biggest failure since the operation to stem the food crisis 5 years ago. The significant loss of both resources and manpower were more than enough to discredit the faction who had supported the Legion from the very beginning. The loss of Commander Irvin Smith proved to be a relief among most military officials and nobles, for he was a major voice in the objections against racism in the military, the higher funding for the Legion, and The Dallis law of 846, allowing convicted criminals to be released to the Legion and eventually released for their service to the King; Corporal Levi was the first convict to be allowed into the Legion, and ironically enough, would now represent what was left of the Legion during the hearing. _

_The loss of Eren Jaeger was largely viewed as a blessing by the majority of the population in both Walls. Many celebrated the fact that he was no longer within the Walls, many others mourned. The nobles cheered while the few remaining idealists fell into despair._

_The fate of the 11 survivors would be decided by Dallis himself, and the hearing would be scheduled a few days from now, giving the survivors time to grieve._

* * *

_Day of Eren's departure..._

It had been a few hours since their conversation at the tree. Annie and Eren had begun their journey to Shiganshina. The weather hadn't changed one bit, and the calm wind was still present, creating a nice, relaxing breeze for the two as they hiked through the dense forest.

Ever since the two had started their journey, neither of them had attempted to start a conversation. Annie never looked back at Eren who was a good six feet behind her. It's not like there was much to talk about anyways, considering the tension that still remained between them.

The two shifters found a dirt walkway that went up a small hill. They made their way up the path, eventually removing themselves from the shade, the sun shining into Eren's eyes. He quickly put his hand up to block the sudden ray of light. To their right was nothing but trees that covered countless miles of land, and to the left was an open field with the same river they've been travelling beside for the past few hours. On the side of the river towards them was nothing but grass, the other side leading to a fence that provided a perimeter around a rather large farmstead.

The farmstead had been abandoned for a long time, and it showed. Most of the fence had been crushed (possibly by wandering Titans) and the house beside the barn was barely intact. The whole front side of the barn was nothing but broken supports and a caved in roof. The grass was tall enough to reach the top step to the entrance of the house; its wooden exterior had been rotting due to the absence of life and regular maintenance.

Eren held the side of his hand above his brows, shading his eyes from the sun for a better view. He eyed Annie who appeared to be focused on something. "Hey, what are you-"

"Shh!" The blonde shushed Eren who stared at her in confusion. She pointed at something, causing Eren to turn his head in that direction to see a deer slowly emerging from the trees and vegetation. His initial thought was food, and hoped Annie was thinking the same thing since both of them haven't eaten in a day. He began to whisper to her but held his tongue, for she was already down the hill and across the river, taking a sharp piece of wood from the broken fence and crawling through the tall grass towards the unsuspecting deer, who had been limping by the house. She took notice of the deer's rather large wound on its hind leg, knowing it would aid her in the takedown.

She was only a few feet away from the deer, waiting patiently until the deer got a few inches closer. She sprung up, sending the piece of wood through the neck and out the other side with such force, that it caused the deer to fall immediately on its side with a cry in pain. She pulled the wood out before stabbing it through again, making sure her prey was dead. Eren, seeing that the deer was taken care of, slid down the hill, jumping over the bubbling river and making his way towards Annie, who was now ascending the steps to the entrance of the house.

"I'm going to see if there's anything we can use to make it easier for us to cut the meat. Check if there's any piles of wood around so we can make a fire." Eren nodded, though he still felt uneasy about taking orders from the girl he should consider his enemy. He kept contradicting himself. One minute he would be thinking of ways to take her by surprise and kill her, but then the next minute would be wanting to punch himself in the face, appalled that he would even consider committing such an act, especially to her.

He knew she was the only way to the basement. If he didn't follow through with what was decided at that tree, he would return empty, without answers. But then he thought to himself, _"Do I even want to go back there?" _He knew that there must've been severe consequences for the Legion returning empty-handed and without him. If he went back there, they would probably keep him out, or worse...kill him.

_"They didn't trust you like we do. Why would you want to protect these people who keep you on a leash? Why protect humanity, an ignorant race that not only loathes you, but one that also pretends to understand everything about this world and each other?"_

Eren shook his head while remembering Annie's words. Who is "we"? Why does Annie trust him? Why wouldn't he want to protect humanity? He wanted humanity to expand, to flourish beyond the walls and pave a new path and not live and die in a cage the rest of their lives. But, after the trial, these thoughts have been plaguing him. Annie was right. He remembered the people at the trial, how ignorant they were and how they didn't allow him to speak for himself. Those fearful eyes, those expressions of cowardice as they hid behind the useless guns of the military police surrounding him. They did pretend to understand everything about this world and each other. They didn't know him. They didn't understand. Nobody except his close friends understood how he felt.

Humans really are ignorant...

He came to agree with Annie's words and began thinking about her role in all this. Annie was just a means to acquire the secrets behind the basement that he had been wanting to discover for so long, but a thought made its way from the back of Eren's head.

"_Is she really the enemy? Why would she be so trusting of you? Not even bothering to tie you up when she had plenty of chances beforehand. Why did you save her? You can find the answers on your own, can't you? Why haven't you run away yet? Go back to your friends, leave her." _

"No wood?" Eren was interrupted from his thoughts, lifting his head up to see Annie holding a large knife.

"_Shit! The wood!" _

"I haven't checked yet." Eren gulped, feeling stupid for losing sight of the task at hand.

"Am I going to have to cook the meat too?" She asked. Eren shrugged, causing the blonde to let out a somewhat annoyed sigh before shaking her head. "Here."

She tossed the knife over to him. Eren caught it surprised, watching her walk over to a newly spotted pile of wood to the left of the house. "What if I didn't catch that?!"

Annie didn't respond, picking up as much wood as she needed for a fire before bringing it beside the river. There was a small area near the water that was void of grass. She collected a bunch of rocks to form a firebed and set a few pieces of wood within the circle of rocks. Eren dragged the deer over beside the firebed as Annie worked on getting the fire started.

"Start cutting off the skin. I recommend not taking that leg right there." Annie pointed to the bloodied portion where it was wounded.

"I know what to do." Eren said in a rather annoyed tone.

"Something on your mind, Eren?"

"I've hunted deer before, y'know!"

"Really now? Good, so have I." Eren couldn't tell if she was being a smart-ass, but didn't think about it too much. After collecting their desired portions of the venison, they both poked a stick through the meat and lifted it above the open flame. What proceeded was over a half-hour of silence, all except for the crackling of the flames dancing along the bottom of the meat.

Eren wanted to start a conversation, but didn't know if she was a fan of small talk; not that small talk interested him most of the time anyways, for it was usually about pointless, trivial events that would happen during the day. Nothing too exciting.

"How long has it been since you've prepared a meal?" Eren looked up, surprised at her sudden question. He scratched the back of his head, his gaze fixed on the flames.

"It's embarrassing, but...my parents did all the cooking."

"You were too focused on killing Titans to learn how to make food for yourself, I understand." Her comment made Eren nearly drop the meat into the fire.

"Hey, I've learned how to do many things!"

"Knowing how to fight in hand to hand isn't one of them." Eren lowered his head in defeat knowing it was the truth. Annie had beaten him in both her Titan-form and as she is now. He gained the upper hand for a moment during the fight in their Titan-forms, but that was only because she had already used up much of her energy. Images of Petra, Auruo, Erd, Gunther and their mutilated corpses suddenly flashed before him.

"Eren?" Annie noticed him tensing up.

"I...it's nothing." Eren couldn't believe it. Here they were, finally having a conversation only to have it be reminding himself of the countless lives she's taken.

"_I can't get over this...why am I even trying to talk with her? All she's done is cause pain and suffering! I need to get to Shiganshina and find out the truth behind the Titans, and then I need to get away from her and travel back to Wall Rose. _

"Eren, how do you like your meat cooked?" Annie asked with a hint of interest. Eren let his thoughts leave him, bringing his gaze up to her.

"Medium rare." Annie blinked a few times with a surprised face.

"Interesting, that's how I like mine cooked too." She paused for a moment, a very faint smile formed on her lips, one that Eren didn't expect at all. It was gentle and could be showing a side to Annie that Eren never expected from her usual cold attitude. "It seems that we have more in common than meets the eye, Eren Jaeger."

"Just because we like our meat cooked the same way doesn't make us friends." Eren said harshly in an attempt to distance himself. It was hard for him though, especially when seeing a glimpse of that small smile fade away as if it was never there. He felt weird, as if it didn't feel right to push her away like that, but she wasn't his friend, she couldn't be! Annie had caused a countless number of deaths and acted as if she could care less. It made him angry, especially that fucking carefree expression she always wore to support the idea of her disinterest in humanity.

Annie closed her eyes half-way, staring into the fire and whispering something to herself. Eren didn't notice this, his attention now on the meat. He brought the stick back and let the meat cool down. It appeared to be cooked to his liking.

A few moments later, Eren sunk his teeth into the juicy venison, immediately tasting heaven as the tender meat ran along his tongue. Annie began to eat hers as well with no change in expression, as if she was focused on something else entirely rather than the tasty meat. Before long, both of them have had their fill. Eren put out the fire and stretched his body.

"Eren." He focused his eyes on the girl as she dropped a piece of leftover venison onto the burnt wood.

"I'm going to shift into a Titan. If I run as fast as possible with you in my hand, then we'll make it to Shiganshina in two or three days." Annie was right, with her speed they would make it there in no time. However, Eren began to remember how her fast movements ended the lives of Levi's squad. He tried to suppress the memories again.

"Alright then, do it."

Annie brought her hand up to her mouth, sinking her teeth into the flesh. In an instant, the area was flooded with steam and the 14-meter form of Annie's Titan-form appeared before Eren, her hand stretched to the ground. Eren stared at it, unable to move even the smallest inch. It was strange, seeing the Titan that had killed his comrades just offering her palm for him to get on, even if he knew its purpose. A few more seconds passed before he stepped onto the large palm of muscle and bone, his eyes averted from her gaze.

"Annie," He began, though was now hesitant on finishing. The eyes of the Female Titan studied him closely before he found the words he wanted to speak.

"Thank you...for the food." He pretended to think that he just wanted to thank her for catching the deer, but it was more of an apology about his previous statements. Eren could see her expression remained the same, motioning for him to sit down. He did so, and the hand closed over the conflicted shifter as his transport got up and began to run in the direction towards Shiganshina, where he would hopefully find the answers he was looking for.

* * *

**A/N: Hot damn, this chapter is even longer than the last one! I hope you guys enjoyed and I promise you that the next update will be within a week or two. As a reward for sticking with this story up until now and the fact that the next chapter starts the new arc, Odyssey, I am making the next 2-3 chapters solely Annie and Eren. There will be no focus on any of the other characters except those two. **

**So yeah, about that episode 23. That whole laughing scene caught me off guard. Hajime stated that was how the scene was originally intended to be like in the manga, and wanted to have the director include it in the anime. It makes me feel really weird and uncomfortable knowing that Annie's cold and possibly sweet personality on the inside is pretty much a facade, and that in actuality, she is a practically a fucking psychopath. Atleast, that's how I felt it was like in the anime. ****It was a release, it was her realizing that she didn't have to hide her true-self anymore, but I don't like her true-self. This isn't what I love her character for. I love her character for what she was beforehand. I will admit though, she looks absolutely beautiful during that scene. Her voice actor did and EXCELLENT job portraying crazy Annie before the transformation sequence. However, I prefer how Annie is before that point, and that is how she is going to be in my story. **

**To point out a few things: I grew an interest in the Mike/Nanaba pairing ever since I saw an illustration by Lintankleen of them together. I actually grew to like the pairing and regretted killing Nanaba off so early in the story. I was not about to go into the 5th chapter and rewrite that shit so Nanaba could be alive. It's unfortunate, but there's no turning back from that. **

**Keith Shadis being the commander of the Legion before Irvin was always an interesting idea to me. Remember in the first episode when Eren saw the Legion coming in? The guy who broke down in front of that old woman looked a lot like Keith, so I incorporated that into my story. **

**Irvin teaching Levi that badass spinning move was always an interesting idea. It just feels right for him to have learned it from the man who took him away from the thug life and trained him, haha. **

**Feel free to leave a review as always, but don't feel obligated to do so. This story isn't fueled on them, but it is nice to see feedback for the chapter :)! **

**As always, have a great day/night fellow Legionnaires, and until next time!**

**-Prima. **


	7. Blood Stained Plains

**Shingeki No Kyojin: Dissonance**

**Chapter 7: Blood Stained Plains **

Hours after their departure from the farmstead, Eren was encased in the night, unable to see even a hint of light from within the hand carrying him. He wanted to sleep, but the constant tremors caused by Annie's heavy footfalls denied him that luxury. Tired, bored, and denied his slumber, Eren used this time to think about the situation at hand.

"_What am I going to do after I discover what is in the basement? Am I really going to run away? Am I really going to abandon her and go back to Wall Rose?"_ He put his hands behind his head before resting his stiff back onto the hard sinew of Annie's palm. His eyes stared into the darkness while he thought of his friends.

"_I wonder what they're all up to right now...I hope they all made it home safe." _The mission was a failure, Eren knew that. Annie had wiped out a good portion of the Legion, and he was captured in the process. The key to unlocking the truth about the Titans was in his hands, but without the Legion, there really was no reason to press forward beyond Wall Maria. Annie was just a means to an end, a way of getting to his goal.

"_Maybe I can somehow capture her...take her back to Wall Rose and then I'll be safe from the Military Police. I can be reunited with my friends and share the secrets of the Titans. I will have all the information, and Annie can supply more than enough intel that may help humanity expand beyond this cage." _Eren jumped up and clenched his teeth.

"What the fuck is wrong with me…?" He whispered to himself. It only took him a moments thought on what the Military Police would do to Annie if they got their hands on her.

"_It doesn't matter if she's a Shifter, if she's the enemy. I would never let that happen to her…" _They would probably start by cutting off the limbs, observing the time it took to regenerate her wounds. Eren knew from personal experience on various occasions, that getting a limb bit or cut off would result in the same excruciating pain you would normally get if you weren't a Shifter. They would dissect her, fuck with her head, break her, and eventually kill her. The more he thought about it, the more disgusted he felt with himself for even considering such an option.

Eren shook his head, beginning to imagine what lies beyond Wall Maria, trying not to focus on what he would do after reaching the basement. He pictured a vast, beautiful sea of azure that spanned the horizon, seeming to fall off the edge of the earth. He knew from the books Armin had shown him that the earth was round, but remembered how a long time ago, philosophers believed it to be a flat surface and that you would fall off if you ventured too far.

Eren still couldn't swaddle his head around the idea that most of the world was blanketed by massive volumes of water, infused with salt no less. Salt was a treasure within the walls and went for a high price for its ability to preserve food.

He imagined being in an area that Armin said were 'snowfields of sand'. It was such a strange image, seeing nothing but sand for miles, and a continent of ice? Eren already had enough trouble keeping his balance on a small patch. Come to think of it, were these areas even habitable? Especially fire water. Eren thought it to be ridiculous that fire could be mixed with water. Water was supposed to put out fires, it made no sense to him.

Eren was pulled from his musings when he felt the tremors halt. Suddenly, the fist opened, allowing the Shifter to take notice of the dimmed sun descending behind Wall Maria.

"It's sunset already?" Eren said aloud before taking notice of the helpless fawn trapped in Annie's other hand. He turned his body to face the scene, only to see his carrier snap the fawn's neck between her thumb and index finger with ease. She placed the lifeless fawn onto the ground as well as Eren, who surveyed the area to see if there were any Titans around, though Annie had probably done that already.

The shadows on the trees intensified as the source of light receded, and any Titans wandering around would be incapacitated until dawn. Annie knelt down before Eren, her Titan-form melting away while pulling herself out from the sweltering nape she resided in. The Shifter slid down the collapsing form of her creation, landing on the ground roughly.

"Annie?" Eren noticed the blonde hunched over, her diaphragm working overtime as sweat trickled down her ashen face. Eren didn't like the look of this. "Annie, are yo-"

"I'm fine." She rose up, pointing towards the lifeless meal beside Eren.

"Deer, again?" He asked with a disappointed look on his face.

"Is that a problem?" Annie eyed him in a somewhat irritated manner.

"Well, we _did _just have some earlier this morning…" Annie let out a sigh while shrugging off Eren's comment.

"I killed that poor fawn for you, it's a shame it won't be put to good use now, what a waste-"

"Alright, alright! I'll eat it, geez!" Eren gave in and unsheathed the knife he had kept in the belt around his waist. He gripped the handle tightly and began picking out his preferred portions of the meat, while Annie went ahead and surveyed the area looking for tinder to start a fire - appreciative of Eren for deciding not to be an ungrateful idiot.

After obtaining the tinder and setting up the campfire, Annie strained to ignite the dry kindle using two flat-faced stones, but her current state of frailty proved the seemingly mundane task to be unfeasible. Her strength had waned from extended use of her titan form.

"Here, let me try." Eren held out his hands towards her, gesturing towards the stones in her grasp.

"If you insist." Annie said weakly, passing the stones to him. He seized possession of them from her hands and after a few quick strikes, victoriously roused an open blaze. The comforting warmth coated Eren's bare skin with a soothing coziness that stole away the chills he had been getting from the lack of proper legwear. He took notice of his fellow Shifter now sitting adjacent to him, her golden tresses glistening from the glowing embers that kept her gaze transfixed, as if she were deep in pensive thought. Eren determined it would be best not to ask her what she was thinking about, at least not for now.

Inevitably, there was yet another half-hour of silence between the two while the fare cooked, besides the occasional yawn that Eren exuded from lack of proper sleep for the past few days. Eren had decided to cook both of their portions, for he could tell Annie was ready to pass out, though she wouldn't admit it. The situation was strange for Eren, sitting across from the girl he considered his enemy while in the middle of Titan-plagued territory. It made him feel uneasy, knowing that he was surrounded by hundreds of those flesh-eaters, the only thing keeping his mind at ease being the fact that they lay dormant for the night.

He focused his gaze back on Annie, who was still peering into the dancing flames with melancholy eyes. Eren frowned and observed the broiling meat, deciding that it was cooked to their liking.

"Here." Annie blinked a few times and looked up, seeing Eren standing over her with her portion of the venison.

"Thanks." She reached for the stick with small, trembling hands that reflected the crackling blaze of jacinth from beside her.

"How much longer until we reach Shiganshina? It looks pretty close." Eren hunkered down to a crouch to meet her level and took a self-indulgent bite from his helping of venison.

"We're about halfway there. If we don't have to take any detours, then we will be there by tomorrow afternoon." Eren let out a sigh of relief knowing that there wasn't much left to their trip. Annie lowered her head, softly sinking her incisors into the meat.

"Get some rest after we finish eating, you look like you're about to pass out." The boy tensed up when she gave him that glacial stare of hers. Eren always felt uneasy when she gave him that look, practically feeling those icy eyes burrow into his soul.

"Oh, worried about me, Titan-killer?" _Titan-killer_ she said with an unamused expression, clearly teasing him and contradicting the fact that he himself was a Titan shifter out to kill other Titans. It felt as if she were suggesting that he was worried about her, which he wasn't; he was definitely not worried. He was just insistent that she catch up on her sleep to avoid having an unduly exhausted Titan dropping him to his death some stories below.

"I'm more worried at the fact that you think I care for your well being." Eren expressed sternly. Annie shrugged, seeming to be unaffected by his abrasive words.

"I'll keep that in mind when I hurl you over the wall." Eren choked a little - the meat seized in an involuntary spasm of the muscles in his throat.

"That isn't funny!" he gasped.

"Relax Eren, I'm not _that_ cruel. I would atleast wake you up beforehand."

"That isn't reassuring in the least." Eren took one last bite and eased himself back onto the grass. He wasn't full but at least the food had sufficed. "Alright, I'm going to bed. Get some sleep will ya!"

Annie was about to respond with the intention of teasing the opposing Titan shifter further, but saw that his back was already turned towards her. She threw the remaining portion her dinner out into the woods ahead. Laying down opposite of Eren, her weary eyes shut softly. The lapping flame of the campfire soothed her rigid muscles, blanketing her in warmth, comfort and eventually overwhelming silence.

* * *

"_Eren! Don't forget the key! You must make it there!" _

"_Dad! I don't understand! Wher-"_

"_The basement, Eren! You must make it to the basement! Once you reach it, you will find the truth!" _

"_Dad, please! Wha-"_

"_It's pointless to explain now! Because of these injections, your memories will be damaged. It's a price you must pay for acquiring this power!"_

"_W-What power?!" _

"_The power to end this meaningless slaughter! The power to change the world and make it a better place! You can use this to prevent more deaths in the long run, Eren. It will be a hard and merciless road, but you will get through it! There will be many who will loathe you, who will want to kill you, who will attempt to suppress this power bestowed upon you, but you will not let them! You will lose friends because of the choices you make, but these are all choices you must make! Not for what I want, not for what humanity wants, but for what you want!"_

"_What...I want?" _

"_I couldn't care less for what happens to humanity, and I know you must be appalled with my selfish words, but all that matters to me in this world now is you and Mikasa! That is why I am entrusting you with this power, so you can fend for yourself! Eren, I will not be able to protect the two of you from now on! There are far greater things coming to fruition, things that you will not understand until you are older! I promise you this, however, that you will see me again one day! She will bring you to me, and you will come to accept our way of life!" _

"_She? Your way of life? Greater things? Dad-"_

"_Eren! Please...I know this is hard for you! It is for me too, but I need you to trust me, and let me give you this power!"_

"_...I trust you Dad...do it." _

* * *

Eren awoke from his slumber, sitting up and panting heavily. Cold sweat soaked his whole body, his clothes sticking to his skin.

"_I...let him give me this power?" _He brought both hands up to his face and let out a deep sigh. _"All this time...I was angry at my father for doing this to me, for abandoning us...and I knew why? I accepted it? FUCK!"_

He punched what he figured to be the meat Annie's palm since darkness surrounded him and the tell tale signs of tremors toyed with his sense of equilibrium.

"_She must have let me sleep in." _Eren's eyes shot wide open, his knuckles now bleeding from the spartanic force of his punch.

"_She will bring you to me, and you will come to accept our way of life!" _

"_She…? Wait a sec-_...Annie?!" Confusion troubled his mind. What did this mean? Did she know his father? If so, why didn't his father just take him after the injection?

Eren was cut from his deliberations when he felt the quaking swell in magnitude. Annie was slowing down in rapid increments. The hand holding him suddenly tipped downwards, sending Eren flying against her hard fingers. "Shit!"

The next few moments consisted of Eren being tossed around within her hand as her body tumbled to the ground. Light suddenly invaded the confines of the now steaming hand as it opened for Eren, who promptly stumbled over the boney digits and rolled out onto the grass. He looked up, seeing the steaming corpse of Annie's Titan-form. It was then his eyes centered on the blonde Shifter rising up from out of the nape. Her form was unmoving, lifeless as the blistering flesh released her from command, sending her tumbling down the back of her deteriorating creation for a second time, but this time without any semblance of control. She couldn't make a soft landing as she bounced off the small of the Titan's back, landing face-first onto the ground with a loud thwack.

"Fuck! Annie!" Eren got up and ran over to the girl whose face was now emitting steam. When he reached her, there was a moment of silence as he turned her over and surveyed the damage. Her face landed on a rather large rock - _What are the fucking odds_? - and had caused a considerable amount of damage to it. The cartilage of her nose was bent in a rather disturbing manner and her eyebrow had been split open. Two tiny, bloody glints of white off to her side boded for missing teeth and the blood trickling down her forehead colored her platinum hair crimson.

The presence of steam suggested her wounds were already beginning to heal, but it would probably take a while, and she definitely wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. Eren felt uncomfortable looking down at her newly disfigured features. Why did it make him so uncomfortable? He was used to seeing both men and women alike get torn to pieces by the Titans, she should be no different. Why was this affecting him so much?

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard an array of heavy footsteps that were approaching, as if a violent thunderstorm rolling in - coating all in its wake with a bloody deluge . It was hard to see at first, because of the thick steam emitting from what was left of Annie's Titan-form, but he could make out a large group of Titans ranging from 7 to 15-meters enclosing on his position. He turned around to see another group of Titans nearing him as well. This wasn't good. Annie was unconscious and completely defenseless.

"_Did she get any fucking sleep?! This fucking girl, I swear!" _Eren stood up - his eyes narrowed. He looked down at his hand, remembering Petra, the girl who prevented him from using this power.

"_Eren! Have faith in us!" _That one fucking line, that one little coercive sentence that kept him from using it, had cost him both her and the rest of Levi's squad.

_"They didn't want you to turn because they were afraid you wouldn't be able to control it." _

Annie was right.

"_Petra. Auruo. Erd. Gunther. When you guys told me to put my trust in you, to have faith, to believe that your skills alone would kill Annie, I believed in that. I thought you would succeed. I thought I made the right choice - how fucking foolish of me. I should have followed my gut. I should have believed in myself. If I did...you guys would still be here. You guys held me back...look where that got you." _

A Titan reached its deadly grip towards Eren who let out a sigh. "How ironic. Here I am protecting the very thing you guys were so desperately trying to protect me from."

He brought his hand up to his mouth, pressing his teeth forcefully against his skin. _"This time, I have nothing holding me back!" _

Eren bit into the soft flesh of his hand, shrouding the whole area into nothing but steam as the nerves, muscle, skin, and bone enclosed him in the brawny shell of his newly-created Titan-form.

"_Annie, you're gonna get me to that fucking basement." _

Eren let out a roar, driving his fist through the nearest Titan's throat and out the nape with such force, that the head became detached from its body, resting on Eren's forearm before he tossed it off to the side. A 7-meter was his next victim, wobbling up to him with it's disproportionate body only to feel the powerful blow of Eren's knee smash into its chin, sending its head flying through the air and hitting another one of the smaller Titans on the prowl.

He had no time to count how many there were. All he cared about was feeding the urge to tear them to pieces. This wasn't just about protecting Annie, this was about killing his enemy, grinding them into nothing but red pulp. It had been so long since he's taken on these mindless creatures. He wanted to see their steaming blood spill across the ground he walked upon. He felt free. There was no one there to observe him, no one to prevent him from killing as many of these fucking monsters as he wanted. He desired bloodshed, and the satisfaction of driving his fists through any Titan that would dare challenge him.

A pair of Titans, each around 12-meters, shambled over, their faces detailed with unnatural, slanted mouths and lazy expressions like most of their kind. Eren let them get closer, taking the side of their heads opposite of each other with his hands before pressing their faces together with such force, that they became nothing but crushed skull and steaming red haze. They fell over to the ground, but were not allowed to regenerate as Eren sent a fist into both napes, pulverizing the nerve clusters within. Eren snapped his gaze over his shoulder to see a Titan slowly kneeling down to grab Annie, the steam from her slowly regenerating face coming into contact with its hand which was now dangerously close. Eren made a sprint, landing a heavy kick into the Titan's arm, his foot going through and connecting with the throat. Its nerve cluster was sent out of place, flying out the back of the nape while the Titan fell over lifeless. Eren didn't bother to look at the sudden appearance of a 14-meter right behind him, about to bite into his shoulder. He sent his elbow right into its nose. Grey matter and pulpy cartilage coated his elbow as the Titan's face caved from the power of the blow. Fragments from the ruined skull pierce the skin of Eren's tricep.

Eren quickly turned to face it, before sending his fist into its gut and grabbing its shoulder to bend the creature downward. He then struck through the nape with his elbow, letting it drop to the ground dead. He uppercutted a 15-meter that came up beside him, sending its steaming form in the air and slantwise into a nearby tree. The bulking body folded backwards violently against the wood. Thunderous cracks accompanied the gruesome splits of skin as nobs of spine savagely pierced through the delicate skin of the Titan's back. They just kept coming from all directions. Eren didn't think there was going to be this many. It was like Annie decided to fall asleep in the middle of the worst area possible. He could see nothing but Titans now, ranging from 8 to 20-meters.

"_This isn't good, there's too many of them." _He looked down at Annie who was right underneath him before surveying the incoming onslaught of Titans. As much as he wanted to take down more than what he already has, he needed to keep Annie in mind. If he made one wrong move that made him stray too far from her, a Titan could easily grab her within its life-ending jaws. _"I'll have to clear a path then make a run for it."_

Eren looked for a possible path without having to deal with anything over 9-meters. He was in luck and found an opening to his right. He made a stance, ready to punch the first Titan to come his way from the path. This would give him the time needed to snatch Annie up into his mouth and make his way through the mob to escape towards Shiganshina, hopefully finding a place for shelter nearby. He wasn't about to fight until nightfall, the sun hasn't even begun to set yet. The nearest Titan was luckily one to his right, and he immediately sent a fist through its throat and into the nerve cluster. He pulled his fist out and knelt down, quickly picking Annie up in a hasty yet delicate manner, before placing her into his mouth and making sure he didn't damage her further with his teeth.

The next few moments would decide everything. He would have to push through with the risk of getting his limbs bitten off in the process. It was a chance he had to take. Eren began to run with an arm in front, trying to push away any Titans in his way. He used his other arm when faced with a Titan that would occasionally try to grapple onto him. He was about half-way through the mob when suddenly, a 15-meter caught him off guard, biting into his arm. The pressure of the powerful bite ripped his arm from socket. The flesh gave way as the arm was whisked away into the swarm.

"_Fuck!" _Eren cursed, sending a left hook into the Titan who then landed on a group of 7-meters. The loss of his right arm rapidly proved to become a nuisance as he was met with more resistance from the mob. Many of them were going at his legs, calves, shins, and thighs like ravenous crows at a fallen animal. They were now severely damaged, revealing the muscle and bone beneath. It wouldn't be long until they gave out - then Eren and Annie would be fucked.

Eren continued to push Titans away with his remaining hand, resorting to biting a few along the nape and into their nerve clusters in an effort to lessen their onslaught. He was close to an opening, but one wrong move, and it was all over.

"_C'mon! I have to move faster! These fucking little shits, get off!" _Eren cursed at the annoying smaller variants of Titans that were still busy gnawing at his legs, some even dragging themselves along the ground while holding on to him in an attempt to avoid from falling behind. Eren finally made it through, seeing the vast field of green leading to Wall Maria, only for the locale to be replaced by a hunched back 20-meter with jet-black eyes. Its teeth were sharp and unnaturally longer than what most Titans had, and its blank stare unsettling. Its knees bent while its long arms hung loosely by its sides. Eren swung his leg back to fling the smaller variants off so his focus would remain on this strange creature before him.

"_This'll be easy." _Eren said to himself with a carnal grin, raising his remaining arm and making it into a fist. It was at that very moment, his opponent jumped up high into the air towards him.

"_What the fuck?!" _Eren's readiness drained from him as the atypical Titan advanced. Eren held his ground. There was no way he could dodge this attack, so he had to give this bastard his all. He had to be quick though, for the mob of Titans were slowly encroaching from behind. The Deviant collided with the Shifter, its long arms gripping his shoulders with such strength that he was pushed backwards.

An acute chorus of snapping bone and shredding muscle fibres echoed through the area - prickling his senses as an encompassing, phantom fire swelled into the core of his torso. His legs suddenly collapsed beneath him and he impacted the ground with his face towards the sky. The Titan above him sank its teeth into the tender flesh of his arm which had instinctively risen to defend against the attack.

"_Fuck! You've got to be kidding me! Don't you bastards know when to quit?!" _Eren gritted his teeth as his arm was ripped from his shoulder and spat out onto the ground to the side. All of his limbs were gone, and the only means of defense he had left were his teeth, but he couldn't use them.

"_I can't save her like this! I can't even save myself…" _Eren shut his eyes tight, trying to come up with something that would save them both.

The mob ganged up on his form, the Deviant biting into his throat and beginning to dig through towards the nape while the others began to tear apart the rest of his body.

"_I'm not gonna die here!" _Eren could feel the gradual swell of heat as the Titan's gnawing at his throat neared his perch in his form's nape. Sheer desperation quickened his thinking - the resolution to the problem at hand suddenly taking light.

"_I need her to transform again, but how?!" _

Eren began to struggle out of the tendons and nerves connecting him to the Titan, only to suddenly separate from him. His Titan form, despite not being attached to his body at all, still held together. Eren had no time to question this sudden event and pressed upwards. He needed to get up into the mouth and wake Annie up before the Titans got to her. He pressed his hands against the flesh before him, digging his nails into it and beginning to pull it away.

"_C'mon! Let me through!" _As if on command, the wall of flesh tore itself apart, allowing Eren to proceed forward and up into the mouth where his only hope lay. He gripped the parted flesh and hoisted himself up and into the hot mouth. Annie's small body rested cradled on the squishy muscle of his form's tongue. Eren fell to his knees beside the unconscious enigma, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her roughly, hoping she would wake up - that she would have the strength to save them.

"Annie, I need your help right now!" Eren felt his body stiffen as the Deviant parted the mouth, ripping the top half of his form's head off. The overcast sky greeted them as they were exposed to the open air.

"Annie, please! You have to get up! I can't do anything to fend them off anymore, so get the fuck up!"

Still no response. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as a behemoth fist closed in on them - ready to steal them away to their sanguinary deaths.

"_Fuck!_" As if on cue, Eren felt the hem of his shirt become taut in a sudden shaky grip.

"You're useless, Eren." Annie declared to him decrepitly, her half-lidded eyes wavered as she placed a hand on his shoulder to help herself up. "Relying on a frail, weak maiden like me."

Eren glared up at her, his fists clenched. "I would say something along the lines of hurling a man like Reiner over your shoulder with ease, but as you can see we aren't in the position to make conversation."

Annie let out a small chuckle, something foreign to Eren's ears before saying, "I won't get very far in this condition, y'know."

Annie brought the side of her hand to her mouth, ready to bite into it as the Deviant's fist began to envelop them. Her uniform was soaked in sweat, her skin pale and eyes watery. Eren knew she was in no condition to fight, but it had to be done. Annie winced as she sunk her teeth into the soft flesh of her hand, instantly being consumed by the flesh of her creation in a whirling combustion of heat as it stretched what remained of Eren's Titan-form apart. Eren fell back into the expanded flesh, the Deviant now laying on the ground some distance away - shredded flesh, muscle, and splintered bones - the remains of the Deviant's arm varnished the ruined terra firma before them. A few Titans tried to grab him, but were met with failure as their bodies were thrown back by Annie's form. Eren noticed only half of her face was complete. The fist she had used to kill the Deviant was nothing but a steaming stump that didn't appear to be regenerating. She took her other hand, which had only a few fingers and a palm with a large hole through it, and grabbed Eren, gently placing him in her mouth.

She spun herself to face the opposite direction and began to run as fast as she could away from the scene. Her incomplete form barely managed to get a mile away before her legs gave out. Her knees came into contact with the ground, exploding into red haze and chipped pieces of bone that smashed into the grass around them.

"Annie!" Eren yelled only to feel his body impacting against her teeth. He let out a grunt in pain, knowing that a few of his ribs were broken. The jaws of his savior suddenly opened, releasing him from the temporary sanction and onto the grassy plains below. He got up and set his gaze upon the slowly decomposing form. He could see Annie's figure emerging out from the nape and disappearing behind the thick steam. Eren hastily ran beside what would soon be nothing but charred bone and ashes. He was met with a limping Annie who staggered towards him through the thick vapor. As she got closer, her features became more apparent to Eren; her anemic face, her dry lips, her hair which was now untied and resting on her shoulders. Her arctic eyes were now bloodshot - drowned in utter exhaustion. Cold sweat and warm blood from her nose mixed in a muddy mask of grunge. Mute tears percolated down the manifestations of neural tissue around her eyes and cheeks. Vermillion vitality escaped the confines of her mouth, and so did words.

"Eren…" His named was called weakly while she outstretched a shaky hand towards him - her subtle footsteps faltered as her strength acutely waned. Her pearl whites stained red. Eren froze in place, unable to avert his gaze even though he desperately wanted to. The way she looked...it was...unnerving. She had this look of indistinct despair - swallowed by the irrepressible fatigue. Before Eren had realized it, she was slumped over in his arms, her chin resting on his shoulder with his arms loosely wrapped around her shuddering back as he lowered them as gently as he could to the ground. He could feel warm liquid soaking through the rough fabric of his shirt - coating his collarbone in her sticky blood.

"Feels good...knowing you just saved me to save yourself...eh?"

Each garbled word is a nail driven into the coffin that is his pride; a pride vexed with his inability to protect himself, his friends, or even this one manipulative woman lying against his chest. He felt his heart seething with regret as he pressed his cheek against hers. Their twin tears mixed as he leaned forward to whisper into her ear - his lips unintentionally brushed against the soft flesh of Annie's earlobe.

"I'm sorry…"

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**A/N: I would like to give my sincerest apologies for the late update! Due to the combination of the abomination that is episode 25 of SnK, the release of Beyond Two Souls, and my own inexcusable laziness, this chapter was a bitch to write. I don't want to make any promises about when chapter 8 is going to be released, for I hate giving empty promises, so just know I am going to be working on it and it will be up at some point. Regardless, I really do hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope you can forgive my unfortunate absence for the past few weeks.**

**Now, I couldn't have posted this fucking thing up without the combined efforts of Salaeren, Euregatto, and Arkevil who were all an amazing help during this time of me being an asspipe and deciding not to do shit as I watch the EreAnnie ship sink before my eyes in the anime.**

**"There's a creak in the rudder, but it's easily fixed with duct tape, which is fanfiction, and Mikasa is the poopdeck of our ship." -Arkevil 2013**

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**Fanfiction Recommendation Section: **

**Let It Burn - Arkevil **

**Titanfall - Salaeren**

**An Unbearable Sight - Ponderess **

**Inside The Red Zone - Euregatto **

**I would give a summary for each of them to peak your interest, but I think it's better if you just look them up and read them, for they are all very well-written stories that deserve the highest of praise! You can also check my Eren x Annie community for various others that are worth the read! I shall continue to implement this section at the end of every chapter if there is at least one story I can put on here. **

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**Note about my thoughts on episode 25 if you care to read them: I thought the fight scene in episode 25 was amazing, but there was just a lot of things changed, left out, and added that ruined the episode for me as a whole. It isn't just the EreAnnie shit, it's what they did to some of the characters (Levi rescuing Eren even though his leg is busted -obvious fanservice for no reason-, many of the Armin scenes replaced with Mikasa, Annie's crying scene butchered, training flashback between Eren and Annie missing, etc.) I would love to bitch about this episode, however, this is definitely not the place to post my incessant rants about it. The good news is, I can just focus on mine and other fanfictions that actually do the characters and story justice :D! **

**As always, have a great day/night fellow Legionnaires, and until next time! **

**-Prima. **


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